Welcome to “Poetry at The Arts Fuse.” A new poem every Thursday

Not All the Gates of Heaven Jerusalem

Dust clothes the children                              of Abraham and of Hagar

cement pulverized to hail                              apartments cluttered like tombstones

there is no sanctuary in the ruins.

For the seduction of bread                            the convoys are stripped

the truck tires slashed                                     the doors overwhelmed

there is no sanctuary in the ruins.

They do not need shoes                                   for their feet are shredded;

the children of the living god suffer          and even the cats are starving

there is no sanctuary in the ruins.

What are we                                                          what are our lives?

what is our strength                                          what is our power?

there is no sanctuary in the ruins.

Not every living soul is human                   not all men are of Israel

not every land is Canaan                              not all the Gates of Heaven Jerusalem

there is no sanctuary in the ruins.

The poet writes: This poem employs and subverts the words and aspirations of medieval Jewish poet Yehudah HaLevi (1075–1141) to lament a contemporary humanitarian disaster. In “My Heart Is the East,” HaLevi famously declared his intention to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem from his home in Spain to see the “ruined sanctuary,” the remnants of the Second Temple. In Gaza during the summer of 2025 there was much ruin, but sanctuary — literal and figurative — was impossible to secure. The italicized words in the final stanza are from a rhymed letter HaLevi wrote on his departure for the Land of Israel explaining his reasons for the pilgrimage.

Debra Cash is a founding Contributing Writer to the Arts Fuse and a member of its Board. This poem, based on the Jewish poetry of medieval al-Andalus, is from her work-in-progress The Bumblebee’s Diwan. Her liturgical work has been anthologized in Anita Diamant’s popular books on weddings and mourning, in the prayer books of the Reconstructionist and Reform movements, and has been included in life cycle ceremonies from Boston to Tasmania. Her poem cycle based on the Passover Haggadah, Who Knows One (Hand Over Hand Press, 2010), is available on demand from Blurb.com.

Note: Hey poets! We seek submissions of excellent poetry from across the length and breadth of contemporary poetics. See submission guidelines here. The arbiter of the feature is the magazine’s poetry editor, John Mulrooney.

— Arts Fuse editor Bill Marx