they heard how we are cedar
By Jihad Yassine
Published 2 August 2026
they used our children
for their walls
and took it literally because they do not know the beauty of our poetry
they call themselves ‘peace makers’
and they are
they bring it by making us quiet
by laying our foundations atop us
flaying our white cedar skin
so that we may be muffled by it
they heard how we are cedar
and gifted us rotting beneath our roots
with our children's bones scaffolded atop us
to be the supports of their blockade
so they can dip their pens in child
marrow and fill blank checks for more herbicide
they don't respect our shyness
they look at how i grow above the
horizon
without occupying it
because they've never seen cedar grown enough
to know we leave space for the sun to sift between our crowns
to reach our little seeds
so they can grow themselves and let the world see
how cedar
provides twigs and strips for the birds' nest
and a plot on a branch
with pine cones to
feed their hungry
so they grow strong
enough to sing praise
they think we worship them
that my brothers in palestine
and lebanon
hold their own saplings as sacrifice
should we accept it when they say
“they live in their own homes
grow their own food
to prepare for our trespass"
Should we accept it when they say
“They raise their own families
carry their children on their backs
to prepare them for
our whips and chains”
should we accept it when
with the kindling that is left of my mother
in the pit of my father
they set us on fire
and tell the world it was
self immolation
Choose a tree to define you. Write a poem about what it would look like if someone started ripping at its roots?
Jihad Yassine
#30in30 #PoetryMonth
Poetry to me means we fill the spaces in between conversations. I find whenever I ask a friend a very deep question, like a hard question – how are you feeling? – they pause. In that moment, I find that to be where poetry is needed. Because I find that when I pause and I'm trying to calculate – how do I respond to this? How am I feeling? – there is never enough words in any language to really express how I am feeling, so the best way I express myself is through poetry. I could tell them 'I'm feeling great!' but in reality, that's never enough. How am I supposed to share my emotions with just a few words? Poetry to me means we can connect, we can build upon each other, we can stand on each other's shoulders because we can understand each other more. I find poetry to be the gap in communication, I find it to be the gap in humanity, the spaces between each other. That is what poetry is to me, and that is why I love to write and create and share poetry.
