Against the Bombing of Iran: Abomination - Poetry by Allan Lake

On June 22, 2025 (GMT+3:30) the Trump Administration utilized the United States Air Force and Navy to attack three Iranian nuclear facilities in an operation called "Midnight Hammer". Trump gave a short address after this strike at 10 pm EST (2:00 am GMT). Immediately after the televised statement, Trump posted on Truth Social in all caps saying that "Any retaliation by Iran against the United States of America will be met with force far greater than what was witnessed tonight."

In response to this operation, The Catalyst launched a flash submission campaign against the bombing of Iran and destruction of the SWANA region at large by the United States to be published on July 4th. This publication day deliberately coincides with the day the United States celebrates Independence Day—a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The included work in this campaign questions and disrupts the ideology of American Exceptionalism at the expense of Black and Brown lives globally. 

No one is free until all of us are free.

Abomination

Cain kills Abel again and
in every generation because
he can and anything can become
a habit. A rock, a rocket, nukes
in the pantry. Cain can but Abel
is unable. Rules like, might means
right, means far right, means what-
ever he says goes, means your head
will be bludgeoned, voice silenced
unless you play dead or are dead.
That alone is your choice but
he might strike anyway
just as a reminder.

Allan Lake is a migrant poet from Allover, Canada who now lives in Allover, Australia. Coincidence. He has published poems in 24 countries. His latest chapbook of poems, entitled ‘My Photos of Sicily’, was published by Ginninderra Press. It contains no photos, only poems.