Angele Ellis: The life and legacy of Palestinian writer Refaat Alareer (1979-2023)
Refaat Alareer stands in a field in Gaza, holding a container of freshly picked strawberries. What evokes the earth’s sweetness more fully than a ripe berry? The expression on his face—scholarly, bespectacled—is gentle and tender.
Mosab Abu Toha: Shrapnel Looking for Laughter
Shrapnel flies in the dark,
looks for the family’s peals of
laughter hiding behind piles of disfigured
walls and bleeding picture frames.
Sahar Rabah: May the Language Do You Justice
Walking barefoot on the thorns
Of your nightmares
Mosab Abu Toha: my grandfather and home
my grandfather used to count the days for return with his fingers
he then used stones to count
not enough
he used the clouds birds people
Mosab Abu Toha: Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear
When you open my ear, touch it
gently.
My mother’s voice lingers somewhere inside.
Mosab Abu Toha, et al: Ceasefire Cento
Each morning
I wake
in the shape
of an ancient
song
Kathy Engel: What’s Another Word for Genocide
in April you told my students
a poem starts anywhere one
small drop of water traveling
Naomi Shihab Nye, Michael Simms & Friends: Poets for the People of Gaza
Naomi Shihab Nye, the current Young People’s Poet Laureate, and poet Michael Simms gather international poets to share works that navigate themes of identity, displacement, and home in Gaza.
