Palestinian American poet George Abraham talks with Mohammed El-Kurd in an expansive interview about Jerusalem, the revolutionary potential of poetry, and El-Kurd’s groundbreaking new book, Rifqa.

Susan Abulhawa reviews Mohammad el-Kurd’s stunning debut poetry collection, Rifqa: “Letting my eyes sweep over lines just once wasn’t nearly enough to take in the unbearable beauty of this book. The words that Mohammad assembles in his poems aren’t pulled from books or dictionaries.  They are snatched from clouds, excised from his bones, excavated from Jerusalem’s fabled tales and the inscriptions on her storied stones, plucked from the creases in tank treads and history’s smoke.”