Thank you so much for all the support you’ve shown us so far in our end of the year fundraiser. We really appreciate it and have a new way to show our thanks.
Starting today in addition to Max Blumenthal’s Goliath: Fear and Loathing in Greater Israel, you can also choose to receive Susan Abulhawa’s stunning new book of poetry My Voice Sought the Wind when you make a tax-deductible donation of $60 or more. As Abulhawa introduces the volume, poetry originated in Arabic for her:
I woke up one day and understood that Arabic had been stolen from my tongue. Or maybe it ran away of its own accord, like a neglected child might do…I only wrote when I was in love or in pain, which were often one and the same. This is a selection of poems that I created over the course of five years.
Many of the poems are political, and pay homage to Darwish and Neruda. You can read a poem from the book here, and some of the early raves the book has been generating including this from Richard Falk:
“Susan Abulhawa’s beautifully crafted poems are written in the great lyric tradition of Pablo Neruda and Mahmoud Darwish, and yet possess their own striking originality. Their themes range widely across a terrain littered with Palestinian memories and torments, the tangled joys of love and loss, and pervading all, an embrace of life itself in all its wildness.”
Thanks again for your support and please consider making a tax-deductible donation today.
“Its 3am in the cattle cage” from Wala made me think of those lines….of the obscure old Sufi
from mawqif of my moments come
“My moment’s come; the time for me to bare my face & show my splendor;
to join my light with courtyards & and what remains behind them;
to bend the eyes and hearts towards me.
You’ll see my rivals love me, & my closest rule;
I’ll raise thrones for them.
I’ll release fire, so it won’t return;
I’ll fix my ruined houses, so they’re adorned with true adornment.
You’ll see my lot surpass all others.
I’ll gather humankind in joy, so they’re no longer divided or shamed.
Bring out my Treasure & realize what I’ve made you of my word, my providence, & my height’s nearness.
I shall emerge, & the stars will gather ’round me;
I’ll bring sun & moon together;
I’ll enter every house & when they wish me peace,
I’ll wish peace unto them.
All of this is from my will, & on my watch, the hour strikes.
I am Great & Merciful.”
al Niffari