Poet Kathy Engel reads her poem “Harvesting Strawberries.”

Harvesting Strawberries

In summer
my teenage daughters
hair waving freckles,
legs and arms swinging,
walk barefoot to the garden in our back yard,
pick greens,
wash them, make salad
or cook with olive oil and garlic
and we eat together
on the wooden table under the mimosa tree
beside hammocks and chimes,
then drive or walk three miles to plunge in the Atlantic.
On January 4, 2005
six Palestinian children ages eleven to seventeen
harvesting strawberries
were killed by Israeli military
paid, in part, with dollars we send in taxes
from our jobs.
A newspaper photo showed an almond eyed boy
carrying the body of his younger brother.
The children were harvesting strawberries.

Kathy Engel January 6, 2005

(Thanks to East End Report for the audio and text.)