<![CDATA[Poems from Guantanamo: The Detainees Speak]]>

false <![CDATA[Poems from Guantanamo: The Detainees Speak]]>

783143

<div>Since 2002, at least 775 men have been held in the U.S. detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. According to Department of Defense data, fewer than half of them are accused of committing any hostile act against the United States or its allies. In hundreds of cases, even the circumstances of their initial detainment are questionable. This collection gives voice to the men held at Guantánamo. Available only because of the tireless efforts of pro bono attorneys who submitted each line to Pentagon scrutiny, Poems from Guantánamo brings together twenty-two poems by seventeen detainees, most still at Guantánamo, in legal limbo. If, in the words of Audre Lorde, poetry “forms the quality of light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change,” these verses—some originally written in toothpaste, others scratched onto foam drinking cups with pebbles and furtively handed to attorneys—are the most basic form of the art. Death Poem by Jumah al Dossari Take my blood. Take my death shroud and The remnants of my body. Take photographs of my corpse at the grave, lonely. Send them to the world, To the judges and To the people of conscience, Send them to the principled men and the fair-minded. And let them bear the guilty burden before the world, Of this innocent soul. Let them bear the burden before their children and before history, Of this wasted, sinless soul, Of this soul which has suffered at the hands of the "protectors or peace." Jumah al Dossari is a thirty-three-year old Bahraini who has been held at Guantanamo Bay for more than five years. He has been in solitary confinement since the end of 2003 and, according to the U.S. military, has tried to kill himself twelve times while in custody.</div>

769148

2007

Poems from Guantanamo: The Detainees Speak

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Something needs to be done and if these voices are the beginning, then the importance of these poems can't be overstated.
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As Pakistani poet/scholar Sheikh Abdurraheem Muslim Dost writes: "I am flying on the wings of thought, And so even in this cage I know a greater freedom." Dost, released from Gu...more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 24 20:45:36 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 24 20:56:01 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Jan 03 10:39:29 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 06 14:00:53 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Jul 24 00:06:36 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 24 00:09:34 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Aug 06 20:33:51 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 06 20:37:30 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Thu Jun 12 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 09 12:03:20 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 04 17:17:16 -0700 2008 this book in the Portland Phoenix.]]> 0 0 false false Tue Sep 01 21:40:38 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 21:40:38 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Wed Aug 12 18:41:02 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 18:41:05 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Jul 20 15:37:32 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 15:37:32 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Jul 12 22:03:21 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 12 22:03:36 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sun Jun 28 08:33:26 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 28 08:33:26 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sat Jun 27 07:02:05 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 27 07:02:05 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu May 21 00:31:39 -0700 2009 Thu May 21 00:31:39 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue May 12 00:35:58 -0700 2009 Tue May 12 00:35:58 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Mon May 04 19:36:58 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 02 06:37:09 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=783143