I followed a rabbit trail of questions and ended up in St Matthew's genealogy of Jesus.
It was the first time that I had seen anyone lean forward in interest when I started reading a list of names
... was the father of ... was the father of ...with the occasional whose mother was ...
The boys took their hoods off, and began to ask questions about the "begats", and whose grandfather David was, and how that story connected with another one that they had heard.
I discovered the author Debrah Ellis through a book
on McNally Robinson's 'once banned books' table
Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak
It begins with names. pages of names.
Palestinian and Israeli children who have been killed in the crossfire.
Ottawa's peace tower dominates the river bank
inside the memorial chamber, the names
of Canadian soldiers who have died in our wars
open books facing in all directions
names written with intricate calligraphy
each morning at 11:00 someone goes into the tower
opens the glass
turns a page in each book
closes the glass
NYC's ground zero
marking the footprints of towers fallen
names of the people fallen etched deeply into the parapet
no mark on the horizon
waterfalls constantly rushing downward
a new tower standing defiantly by
over constant crowds of people
tracing the letters
the names etched deeply into the parapet
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