As a poet or writer, at any moment, one grasps for words, grasps is actually the wrong word entirely, suggesting a certain desperation, let’s say the mind reaches out for the precise word or words that convey or attempt to convey the jumbled mass of thought and feeling.
Sometimes words come unbidden in a sluce or stream then once down on the white space of the page we reach for the syntax/ register/ diction/ metrics/ rhythm that will suggest something beyond words as music does.
In the face of such atrocities that are unfolding in Gaza all words can seem inadequate yet many in the front line of do find words and I share this in the spirit of solidarity. Poetry is about image and sometimes it is the small details that open the heart. I found this poem today in twitter posted by Caroline Bird in November 2023
Mosab Abu Toha was kidnapped by the IDF, on his way to Rafah with his family. He was imprisoned, beaten and miraculously returned to his family after detention.
“Last year, Abu Toha published his debut book of poetry, Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear. It won an American Book Award, Palestine Book Award, and Arrowsmith Press’s 2023 Derek Walcott Poetry Prize, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.”
More poetry by Mosab Abu Toha https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/155508/my-grandfather-and-home
On his arrest and the situation in Gaza in his own words https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/palestinian-poet-mosab-abu-toha-on-all-hes-lost-in-gaza-and-hopes-for-his-homeland
Follow in X/Twitter @MosabAbuToha and instagram @mosab_abutoha
A blog post by Anne Enith Cooper
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