Jewish Poem of Contrition
By Darren Stein There is no hiding from the screams of a child, Baby forms shredded by shrapnel, Little bodies broken by bricks; It makes me sick to look upon, ashamed as both a human […]
Poetry
For Anas Qandeel, Who Won’t Be Posting His Grief – A Poem
By Pina Piccolo (Dedicated to Anas Qandeel, the boy that was killed in Gaza one hour after posting his fear and frustration in Facebook.) You weren’t killed by the Mighty Cliff that crumbled upon your […]
The ‘Peace Process’ Dies again – A Poem
By Gary Corseri There is no “peace process.” There is peace… and the absence of peace— The gnawing hunger for it, The desperation of the vanquished. Does the peace dove fly with a shattered […]
An Old Man and a Young Man in Gaza – A Poem
By Heathcote William An old man holds a placard that reads, “You take my water, burn my olive trees, Destroy my house, take my job, steal my land, Imprison my father, kill my mother, Bombard […]
Letter to Ghassan Kanafani on the 66th Anniversary of the Nakba
Dear Ghassan, On our birthday this year I turned 31 and you turned 78. Even the dead grow old without a homeland. Do you know that we live and die in diaspora now? Do you […]
We Are the Palestinians – A Poem
By Gary Corseri Before Moses or the Romans, Before Jesus and Muhammad, Before the Turks and the English, We dwelled in this land. We built cities out of the dust, Watered with our tears, Mortared […]
Not to Be an American Indian – A Poem
In a poem that he wrote and gave me forty years ago, my friend Jack B wrote about what it was like to be an American Indian. For him, and for so many other American […]
‘Never Forget’: For Rachel Corrie – A Poem
By Gary Corseri (Note: American peace activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death on March 16, 2003, while trying to stop an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) armored bulldozer from demolishing Palestinian homes in the occupied […]
The Long Goodbye of Ariel Sharon – A Poem
By Heathcote Williams “There is a convention that you’re not supposed to speak ill of the recently dead, which unfortunately imposes a kind of vow of silence, because there is nothing good to say. He […]
Words! – A Poem by Samah Sabwai
By Samah Sabwai I stand Dispossessed No congress behind me No statesmen surround me No lobby to breathe hellfire No media eager to appease No three-ring circus Of intellectual jesters Academic clowns And policy experts […]
One Palestinian Man’s Reading of Susan Abulhawa’s My Voice Sought The Wind
By Hatim Kanaaneh I am no romantic poet. Yet Susan Abulhawa’s first published collection of poems (My Voice Sought The Wind, Just World Books, 2013) slices directly to my heart. Like her, I once wrote […]
Susan Abulhawa’s My Voice Sought The Wind – Poetry Review
By Vacy Vlazna Susie Abulhawa, Palestinian poet, exile, mother, lover, friend, stands naked in My Voice Sought The Wind; her collection of trenchant and beautiful poems replete with honesties and literary seductions. Reading her poems […]
A Palestinian Day of Remembrance (that of Sabra and Shatila) – A Poem
By Nasser Barghouty In the eleventh hour of their day I am reminded of your day eleven primes ago when hatred and steel blinded them and the sun gray and halted your time your smile […]
There is No Spring, Brother – A Poem
(A Reply to Nasser Barghouty) By Francis Oeser You’re right, it doesn’t feel like spring. Leaves of love are fallen, contempt poisons the ground, even the stars dim in pain. No! It’s certainly not spring. […]
My Arab Spring that Never Was – A Poem
By Nasser Barghouty I thought in numbers we could say what is or what was right placards drawn with blood and no fright young and old stay the course street by street and night after […]
Commandant Guevara and other Poems
By Manash Bhattacharjee Commandant Guevara Man more than memory memory more than man. A scar without a wound in the masks of history. He was no engineer of lies. He was no head in the […]
Afghanistan; And It Snowed – Poems
By Zahra Zamorano Afghanistan millennium eyes sigh with no smile years gone by on the face of a child memories run greener than the deepest of seas history is never forgotten in the confines within: […]
What Say You, Um Mas’oud? – A Poem
By Nasser Barghouty Someone left heaven’s gate ajar Um Mas’oud a lingering half prayer half answered but enough for me to slip in uninvited from afar and into this glimmer of a realm that is […]
Palestine/Fukushima Japan – A Poem
By Jane Otaqui (This poem was inspired by a conversation we had after our Japanese Daughter-in-law Atsuko’s Dad had travelled to the Fukushima area for a family funeral. He expressed his profound sorrow at not […]
For Samer Issawi: Tribute to a Jerusalem Son – A Poem
By Susan Abulhawa Apartheid’s outlaw Has crooked white teeth An Adam’s Apple and an angled jaw A beautiful face With a knowing smile, gentle eyes And masculine grace O’ Native son, my brother Your eyes […]
Hunger Strike – A Poem
By Zahra Zamorano If I could feed one ounce of Earth into empty stomachs of stubborn roots would this bide enough time to see wings of hope fly home again? If I could write one […]
In Memory of Mahmud Darwish – A Poem
By Manash Bhattacharjee I learnt from your poems how To wait upon death And how waiting is a game as Treacherous as death. I learnt from you how the root Of waiting is grasped in […]
Teatime in Tihar Jail – A Poem
By Ramzy Baroud – with Rafiq Kathwari He sipped then walked slowly head held high greeting the hangman with a gentle nod eyes sunk to heart beard grew defiant remembering the judge asking to repeat […]
Al-Karamah (Dignity) – A Poem
By Francis Oeser Do we all have a decent roof overhead, well paid jobs, food of well being and the chance of knowledge – of gaining wisdom, of skills, of articulating dreams— do we all […]
My Desert Ends Here – A Poem
By Ramzy Baroud (To a refugee from Mali) My hands tremble But when I held yours I felt mightier Than the whisper Of a passing refugee At the end of a journey And the start […]
Your Nakba, and Mine – A Poem
By Ramzy Baroud When your grandfather deserted his horse At the lower edge of the Pacific My family’s steed was still grazing By the southern hills of Palestine Your Nakba started before mine But mine […]
The Nobel Poets of Santiago – A Poem
By Ramzy Baroud It was here that Salvador Allende died for our sins Some say his own But the Republic was torn to shreds by Nixonian men with stiff faces Cold hearts And loud bombs […]
The Color of Our Zayt and Za’tar – A Poem
By Nasser Barghouty When the celestial colors fuse they choose yours an unforgiving cosmic green with depths and wounds (un)seen as it has always looked gleamed off your homeless eyes and will always do till […]
In Valiant Fortitude – A Poem
By Soraya Boyd Unlawfully pincered between harsh collective punishment and base military aggression The tear bedabbled faces of innocent children in constant lacrimation Afforded no respite cling desperately to their progenitor for safety and protection […]
A Most Familiar Drama – A Poem
By Soraya Boyd Aided and abetted by its coalition of the willing Plundering Israel tears a thirst-deprived people and its parched land asunder Under the auspices of its American heel Raiding Israel steals away every […]
