“Moonscape” by Zetta Elliott is offered to educators and students as an open resource — free to share and print through Just YA on Open OkState. We invite you to read this poem and listen to the interview (including a reading and discussion about the content and craft). And we encourage you and your students to write a poem in response.
Here is the poem:
Moonscape by Zetta Elliott
today a reporter described what’s left of Gaza
as a “moonscape” and I wondered,
what moon looks like this?
I see no craters, no frozen seas
just chalky limbs dangling between
slabs of concrete that once were
ceilings and floors holding space for life
homes for countless families now
turned into tombs for thousands of
children who never knew lunar lightness
only the gravity of living in a prison
designed to destroy
dignity
Zetta Elliott’s poetry has been published in numerous anthologies. Her first YA collection, Say Her Name, won the 2021 Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry. A Place Inside of Me: A Poem to Heal the Heart was named a 2021 Notable Poetry Book by the NCTE. https://www.zettaelliott.com/
And here is our interview with Zetta:
You can download the entire anthology for free here: https://www.ethicalela.com/store/
And you can buy a paperback here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/just-ya-…