12.15.2025

RELIABLE SOURCES

     After Bob Perelman

A woman, carrying a loudspeaker.
     Known for her criticism of.
Wearing her black shirt, emblazoned.
     Earrings glittering in the sun.
Led a sea of activists.
     Behind a long banner with.

According to the latest estimates.
     The authorities have now confirmed.
A myth of marching millions.
     The total annual revenue of.
Financed, organized, and directed by.

     The muscle behind these campaigns.
With a mission to promote. 
     With a mission to destroy.
Exploding around the world.
     Playing out on the streets.
The streets of our cities.

     Founded upon the ashes of.
Part of a larger intergenerational.
     Six decades in the making.
Removal of the seven million.
     The river to the sea.

Has responded to the devastating.
     In a statement released on.
Mourned the loss of lives.
     She said, with a smile.

If you can’t unequivocally condemn.
     If you hide behind words.
You are witless pawns in.
     Don’t know you’re being played.

Not a single one condemned.
     On cue, waving flags furiously.
Or expressed any sorrow for.

     I’m not going to forget.

---

SOURCE
X. P. Callahan, “Reliable Sources,” in Black Shirt Emblazoned, 1st ed. (Monday Editions, 2024; out of print).

NOTE
In the wake of the jihadist massacre at Bondi Beach, and for the duration of Hanukkah, I am posting poems from Black Shirt Emblazoned, a chapbook that reflects on the worldwide explosion of Jew-hatred that followed and continues in the aftermath of the Hamas-led pogrom of 7 October 2023.

This poem adapts Bob Perelman’s approach in “Chronic Meanings” and remixes phrases from Asra Q. Nomani, “My Day in DC: How Leaders like Linda Sarsour Are Weaponizing the Media to Foment a Global Campaign Against Jews,” Jewish Journal, 23 October 2023. (Nomani is an Indian American journalist, a practicing Muslim, an advocate for Islamic feminism, and a critic of Islamism, as distinct from mainstream Islam; citation is not necessarily endorsement.) The poem also incorporates a few phrases taken from online reports by CNN and MSNBC.

The first edition of Black Shirt Emblazoned is out of print. DM me if you want to preorder a signed copy of the second edition ($16, postage within the continental US included). All proceeds donated to ZAKA Search and Rescue.