What will be left of Gaza then but dust
And silent echoes in an empty space?
The war against Hamas, he said, was just
His wily smile the answer on his face
What of the little children, the unborn
The doctors, and the journalists who tried
To save them, and record another dawn?
It is because Hamas, he said, they died
Would not the Jews who perished long ago
In Germany and Poland in the camps
Decry this genocide, the winds that blow
The light out from so many other lamps?
You lie, he said. And then the truth appeared
There was no Gaza when the dust had cleared
© Gail Foster 22nd August 2025
Author: Gail
Whack-a-Mole
We’re shooting Gazans, that’s our goal
It’s target practice, not a game
Take aim and fire and…Whack-a-Mole!
There, over by the water hole
Hey some we kill and some we maim
We’re shooting Gazans, that’s our goal
Like skinny fishes in a shoal
All move as one and look the same
Take aim and fire and…Whack-a-Mole!
A few grains in an empty bowl
Is that for what these mothers came?
We’re shooting Gazans, that’s our goal
She’s running, that won’t save her soul
In vain, and shouting Allah’s name
Take aim and fire and…Whack-a-Mole!
We’re IDF, that’s how we roll
For Israel, and Bibi’s fame
We’re shooting Gazans, that’s our goal
Take aim and fire and…Whack-a-Mole!
© Gail Foster 27th June 2025
The Pigeon and The Cross
What is a Christian? One who can recite
The Bible, knows the chapter and the verse
Whose reputation and whose robes are white
As clouds in sunlight, or one who can curse
In Latin words? What use is Christian breath
If not to speak for other folk less blessed
Who live in gutters, or who wait for death
In prison cells in darkness unconfessed?
Look see, above the statues and the gold
The pigeon sitting quietly on the cross
Come Francis, follow me back to the fold
Oh Lamb of God, be with them in their loss
And it was done. That was a Christian there
Inside the coffin in St. Peter’s Square
© Gail Foster 26th April 2025
Elon Had A Little Saw
Elon had a little saw
He used his saw for cutting
Jobs and money from the poor
And posing with when strutting
All out and shouty with his saw
Raw fact and sense rebutting
Or trousers down behind a door
Before a mirror, nutting
© Gail Foster 21st February 2025
Double Dactyls for Elon Musk
Dodgily DOGE-ily
Elon the wealthiest
Man on the planet made
Plans for the rest
Neuralink chips all round
Down at Guantanamo
Experimentally
Put to the test
Muskily Muskily
Elon the DOGE master
Isn’t he plotting the
End of mankind?
Quiet you, quiet your
Eschatological
Questioning, Epsilon!
Get thee behind
© Gail Foster 12th February 2025
On The Occasion of Benjamin Netanyahu Quoting Dylan Thomas
Don’t tell me that you fight a righteous fight
How many children have you killed today
I’ll give you rage. I’ll give you rage alright
Your anger and your ego burning bright
Are razing all that’s standing in your way
Don’t tell me that you fight a righteous fight
How many have you sent into the light
Before they even had the time to pray
I’ll give you rage. I’ll give you rage alright
How many have you saved or sent in spite
Up to the sky in ashen clouds of grey
Don’t tell me that you fight a righteous fight
In clouds as those who in the fog and night
Were put in trains and disappeared away
I’ll give you rage. I’ll give you rage alright
You speak as if your soul was white as white
Yet deep inside you darkness holds its sway
Don’t tell me that you fight a righteous fight
I’ll give you rage. I’ll give you rage alright
© Gail Foster 27th September 2024
Hatred; a ghazal
The summer sun has stirred your seeds, hatred
A bitter wind blows through the weeds, hatred
Go pour another beer. Pick up a stone
Whoever shouts the loudest leads hatred
All blood is red. All children are our own
One love. Not everybody bleeds hatred
Brave in a crowd but coward when alone
At work, at home, nobody heeds hatred
Go snort a line. Pick up a traffic cone
All boys together. Hatred breeds hatred
Your country back? No country I have known
Here be all races and all creeds, hatred
Your flag is upside down, mate, and your tone
Is strident, hun. Hey, unmet needs, hatred?
There will be harvest when the weeds are mown
Love conquers all, love supercedes hatred
Call me a snowflake. Woke as to the bone
And God alone will judge our deeds, hatred
© Gail Foster 3rd August 2024
On Grassy Uplands By The Sunshine Lit
The poet sighed. What is there left to write
The Tories have all gone, well nearly all
The ones that there are left are really small
No bark to speak of, never mind a bite
They whisper to each other in their fright
Discussing who it was who dropped the ball
Or caused the sword of Damocles to fall
Upon them from so very great a height
I never could quite bring myself to piss
On Thatcher’s grave, nor shall I stop to shit
On Rishi’s monument. Nobody’s died
We bask in some sweet momentary bliss
On grassy uplands by the sunshine lit
What is there left to write, the poet sighed
© Gail Foster 10th July 2024
Because Hamas
Netanyahu didn’t give
A fuck. ‘Because Hamas!’ he cried
‘The children don’t deserve to live!
Because Hamas the people died!’
And Netanyahu didn’t care
What other countries said or did
His bombs kept falling from the air
On top of where the children hid
‘Because Hamas it is they fall
This isn’t genocide, this war
Is justified, if crime at all
It is because Hamas!’ he swore
‘That from the river to the sea
The Holy Land belongs to me’
© Gail Foster 22nd March 2024
Tit for Tat
A nursery rhyme about war
When playing games of tit for tat
It’s best that all agree
On which was tit and tat and that
Or all will be at sea
Forever playing tit for tat
For all eternity
That was a tat! That was a tit!
That looked like tat to me!
You started that! I’ll finish it!
And then we’ll go for tea
Another tat! Do you submit?
A tit! Submit to me?
And on they went. A tit, a tat
And never could agree
On which was tat to end the spat
Or tit did start the spree
Forever playing tit for tat
For all eternity
© Gail Foster 15th April 2024
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