Eliot Katz
It’s About Representation
Someone asked why
I’ve written so many
poems about this war.
As a democratic-left
atheist son
of an Auschwitz survivor
I have to try
my imperfect best
to help
in refusing to let
the sociopathic bombing
tactics
of a corrupt
Benjamin Netanyahu
pretend to speak
for universal Jewish thought
to the world.
--Eliot Katz, 2023
Called “another classic New Jersey bard” by Allen Ginsberg, poet-activist Eliot Katz has worked for decades as an activist for peace and social-justice causes, including helping to create housing and food programs for Central Jersey homeless families that remain ongoing. Working with the Ginsberg estate, Eliot has recently edited a book of Allen’s political poems that will be published next spring by OR Books. A collaboration of Eliot’s poems and music by Adam Bernstein, called Peace Talk Poems, was released in late 2025 on most online streaming platforms