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4.72 AVERAGE
4.72 AVERAGE
this collection wasn’t for me. it was cyclic, disjointed, and scattered. it didn’t translate for me in a way i could connect with the poems. the best of the best were all in the beginning, but for my tastes it slowly devolved.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. Heart-wrenching, eye-opening, timely, and moving work.
Endless thanks to City Lights for providing a free digital copy.
Endless thanks to City Lights for providing a free digital copy.
The best poetry book I've read this year so far. "A Rose Shoulders Up" got me all weepy and on a feels trip.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Violence, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
"i go to the cemetery every day
i look for your grave but in vain
are they sure they buried you
or did you turn into a tree
or perhaps you flew off with a bird to the
nowhere"
Mosab Abu Toha's poetry collection is as beautiful as it is devastating. What a heart to pen poetry amidst a wreckage; what a mind to conjure beautiful analogies for decades of occupation; to be able to write with such grace under the bleakest realities. For Palestinians and other nations facing the evil manifestations of greed and power, this is all they have.
Me writing about this book is already a privilege that Palestine doesn't have, Congo doesn't have, Sudan. But I'm leaving one because Mosab and Palestine deserve their flowers. I have the privilege of amplifying their stories and what little but beautiful voice they have—gentle ripples that build into waves.
Courage is made in palestine, and one day, so will freedom.
i look for your grave but in vain
are they sure they buried you
or did you turn into a tree
or perhaps you flew off with a bird to the
nowhere"
Mosab Abu Toha's poetry collection is as beautiful as it is devastating. What a heart to pen poetry amidst a wreckage; what a mind to conjure beautiful analogies for decades of occupation; to be able to write with such grace under the bleakest realities. For Palestinians and other nations facing the evil manifestations of greed and power, this is all they have.
Me writing about this book is already a privilege that Palestine doesn't have, Congo doesn't have, Sudan. But I'm leaving one because Mosab and Palestine deserve their flowers. I have the privilege of amplifying their stories and what little but beautiful voice they have—gentle ripples that build into waves.
Courage is made in palestine, and one day, so will freedom.
Recently Mosab was detained by the IDF while attempting to flee Gaza with his wife and children. He was accused of being a Hamas activist, stripped and beaten. He was not and is not a Hamas activist. He is a poet. And maybe sometimes the oppressor will say that is just as bad.
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
“One day, we will be born again when you’re not there. Because this land knows us. She is our mother. When we die, we’re just resting in her womb until the darkness is cleared.”
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Mosab’s writing pierces through my heart. It isn’t enough to read his words just once.