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A review by arianavandyck
Birthright by George Abraham
5.0
From the Foreword:
"Within these pages, we examine the inverse of birthright. How do I write this without mentioning the obvious oppressor? An oppressor who deserves no more space in our minds, in our imaginations. I will their erasure in the writing of this and in the reading of Abraham's words. The violent existence of Israel, our complicity in allowing it. The ongoing genocide of Palestinian people and the rapid theft of their land and lives."
This whole collection is staying with me; the lyric, exposition, narrative, the Map of Home at the end. A few poems I keep thinking about: "ars poetica with waning memory," "from Adaptation Portraits (strange cartographies)" and the series of "in which you do not ask the state of israel to commit suicide."
"Within these pages, we examine the inverse of birthright. How do I write this without mentioning the obvious oppressor? An oppressor who deserves no more space in our minds, in our imaginations. I will their erasure in the writing of this and in the reading of Abraham's words. The violent existence of Israel, our complicity in allowing it. The ongoing genocide of Palestinian people and the rapid theft of their land and lives."
This whole collection is staying with me; the lyric, exposition, narrative, the Map of Home at the end. A few poems I keep thinking about: "ars poetica with waning memory," "from Adaptation Portraits (strange cartographies)" and the series of "in which you do not ask the state of israel to commit suicide."