Yatta

The stench of the dump is sweet
as the Palestinian boys
pick through the treasures---

because this is where the Israelis
discard their garbage.
A little bit of steel or aluminum,

old shoes become the emperor’s new clothes.
There are no sanitary landfills over there,
they’re all in Palestine,

even with gloves
the boys are covered in slime.
Since Israel closed its borders

there is no work to be had,
except for this rummaging, this digging,
this plowing of the furrows of our modern world.