Poets saving Palestine: I Remember My Name

But in Birth At A Checkpoint, Jehan’s defiance and life-enhancing irony show: ‘Israeli soldier puts his weapon down to help Um Ali spread her legs, her face is red with shame, her husband is waiting at home in Abu Dis, He doesn’t have the right pages with the blue and white stamps, he can’t cross to Jerusalem…The international community is having 9 course dinners in the Alps.’

Optimism For The Future

It is a fillip to one’s spirts to witness optimism against overwhelming odds. In editing this volume Vacy Vlazna has not only orchestrated three poets but also shows her disbelief about cruelty and her record of always protesting injustice. In common with the German poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht, Vacy knows that ‘Justice is the bread of the people’, and that daily justice is as necessary as daily bread.

In Open Your Eyes, Ramzy provides a hopeful contrast to the monstrous racism and violence of current Israeli government policies. In the last of six verses from that poem he writes, ‘O Sun, Cast a strange hue, New kind world, A curious rhyme, Friends waiting, An empty chair, The horizon.’ 

In Tales of a City by the Sea, Samah reminds us why Gaza must survive and why the people will be free. ‘There is no limit to the sea’s audacity. It breaks the siege everyday, one defiant wave at a time.’

In diverse figures of speech poetry can spark imagination, raise hopes, tell the meaning of freedom and the means of achieving such a goal. On that journey, Editor Dr.Vacy Vlazna and the book’s talented illustrator David Borrington have combined to showcase three significant Palestinian poets.