Poet Michael Rosen on children in Gaza

THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2009

I just received word that the British poet and writer Michael Rosen, 2007 British Children’s Laureate, read a new poem last weekend at Speakers Corner, Hyde Park, in London. The Tanjara blog has video of the actual reading which included children reading the names of 30 children who have died in that conflict. This is a tragic situation no matter what your point of view, and this acknowledgement of the price children pay is particularly poignant. The poem begins:

In Gaza, children,
you learn that the sky kills
and that houses hurt.
You learn that your blanket is smoke
and breakfast is dirt.

You learn that cars do somersaults
clothes turn red,
friends become statues,
bakers don’t sell bread.

http://poetryforchildren.blogspot.com/2009/01/poet-michael-rosen-on-children-in-gaza.html

Read the rest of the poem at The Tanjara.