Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza by Mosab Abu Toha

4.72 AVERAGE

henry928's review against another edition

3.75
reflective sad
abistacks's profile picture

abistacks's review against another edition

3.5
emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced
rensuzugamori's profile picture

rensuzugamori's review against another edition

5.0
emotional reflective fast-paced
And if you can make them cry or smile, then you are a poet; if you can make them shiver, then you are a poet.

A truly beautiful and haunting collection of poetry, so weighted by grief and the horror of the ongoing genocide in Palestine. There is very little that I feel equipped to say - art created from the devastation is deeply important and contains so much.
kotabee's profile picture

kotabee's review against another edition

4.5
informative reflective sad medium-paced
oxytorin's profile picture

oxytorin's review against another edition

5.0
„Gaza is a city where tourists gather to take photos next to destroyed buildings or graveyards.

A country that exists only in my mind. Its flag has no room to fly freely, but there is space on the coffins of my countrymen.“

amyep__'s review against another edition

5.0
emotional sad medium-paced
violetbooklover's profile picture

violetbooklover's review against another edition

5.0
challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

erikswallow's review against another edition

4.0
emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced
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ceallaighsbooks's review against another edition

5.0
emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced
“On TV, I watched when a man pulled out a headless child,
another with no arm or leg. So small
I couldn’t tell if boy or girl.
Hate ignores such details.
The houses were not Hamas.
The kids were not Hamas.
Their clothes and toys were not Hamas.
The neighborhood was not Hamas.
The air was not Hamas.
Our ears were not Hamas.
Our eyes were not Hamas.
The one who ordered the killing,
the one who pressed the button thought
only of Hamas.” 
 
- from "THE WOUNDS" 
 
author: Mosab Abu Toha 
published: 2022 
publisher: City Lights Publishers 
 
genre/subgenre: poetry 
setting: Palestine 
main themes/subjects: life persists, family & heritage as tied to the land, the mundanity of violence, the many layers of isolation inherent in the Palestinian identity, the indefatigability of hope, the insidiousness of normalized colonization & gen/cide, the rejuvenative power of small moments & nature, memory & stories, fatherhood, childhood, death & burial, walls & the sky, freedom 
representation: Indigenous author 
 
“What do you think happens to people who cannot find a way to process and express what has happened to them?
     It means that what they have lived through will not leave them, so it will all come back to them in their nightmares. One function of poetry is to heal the wounds. These ideas in my mind, I don’t really know what they are until I put them on paper.
     People who are unable to go through this process, of getting rid of things, transferring or transforming them, lose their mental well-being, their psychological balance. If they can’t write, or deal with their nightmares by reading, by putting them on paper, or somehow sharing their feelings with other people, this deepens the wounds.” 
 
my thoughts: 
What a powerful & engaging collection. I was moved by how conceivable & evocative Abu Toha’s tone & style were in spite of the extreme horror & distance of the subjectmatter. Though to be fair I did just softly cry through the whole book. After such poems as “My Grandfather Was A Terrorist” & “Sobbing Without Sound” I had to just stop & cry it out until I could move on to the next poem. It’s the good kind of crying though, the kind of crying that lets you know your soul is alive & well. In that sense, part of me is glad that I will never understand how anyone could read a collection like this & not be moved to empathy & action. To sit with Abu Toha’s story, to take his words into my soul, to become “Palestinian like him”, I am grateful even through the grief. 
 
notable elements: at the end of the collection is a brief interview between Ammiel Alcalay & Abu Toha & what Abu Toha said about his poetry & the act of writing poetry really resonated with me: 
 
“I never tried to master the classical structures of writing poetry. When I think of poetry I don’t think of Arabic poetry or English poetry or Spanish poetry. No, I just think of poetry as an idea, not as rigid form that I need to follow.”
     “The word for poetry in Arabic, sha’ir, doesn’t refer to a particular form, it only has to do with feeling. So you have to be an expert in showing your feelings on paper or reciting your poetry to people so that they can feel what you’re feeling. It can be an image but it does have to leave an impact on the reader. And if you can make them cry or smile, then you are a poet; if you can make them shiver, then you are a poet.”
     “When you are a poet, you need to be saying something that cannot be said by other people. Poets don’t necessarily need to be first-rate readers of poetry, because when they start to write poems they already have what they need, they’ve been living it. When I tell my story—to anyone—it’s as if I’m reciting poetry.” 
 
i would recommend this book to readers who maybe don’t usually read poetry but would like to add some to their repertoire & support an Indigenous Palestinian poet while they do so. this book is best read gently, compassionately, selflessly, expansively… 
 
“A ROSE SHOULDERS UP

Don’t ever be surprised
to see a rose shoulder up
among the ruins of the house:
This is how we survived.” 
 
final note: I immediately picked up Abu Toha’s most recent work, Forest of Noise, after finishing this one & am already struck by how much more there is to say about the Palestinian experience under occupation, oppression, & ςεηsοr. 💔 
 
CW // gen/cide, dεατh (especially of children), indiscriminate b0mbing, isolation & displacement 
season: Summer 
music pairing: Sounds of Palestine playlist on Spotify 
 
further reading: 

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bbutterflyi's profile picture

bbutterflyi's review against another edition

5.0
definitely a must read book if you wanna know more abt palestine, these poems are beautiful but they all left me wrecked