Poets for Palestine

by Remi Kanazi (Editor)

Poets For Palestine is a unique collection of poetry, spoken word, hip-hop, and art devoted to Palestine. Unifying a diverse range of poets who have used their words to elevate the consciousness of humanity, the book aims to bridge a younger generation of poets with those who, for decades, have cultivated and strengthened the poetic medium. Poets For Palestine includes poems by the late Mahmoud Darwish, Amiri Baraka, Naomi Shihab Nye, Suheir Hammad, Nathalie Handal, Patricia Smith, E. Ethelbert Miller, Melissa Tuckey, Ghassan Zaqtan, Remi Kanazi, Dima Hilal, Sholeh Wolpe, Ibtisam Barakat, Philip Metres, Venus Khoury-Ghata, Kathy Engel, Laila Halaby, The N.O.M.A.D.S., Hamida Begum, Tahani Salah, Deema Shehabi, Lisa Suhair Majaj , Hayan Charara, Melissa Hotchkiss, Veronica Golos, Junichi P. Semitsu , J.A. Miller, Marian Haddad, Fady Joudah, Fawzia Afzal-Khan , D. H. Melhem, Pierre Joris, Nizar Wattad (a.k.a. Ragtop), Marilyn Hacker, Alicia Ostriker, and Annemarie Jacir. All of the proceeds of this volume will go towards funding future cultural endeavors in the US that highlight Arab artistry. At a time when conditions for Palestinians have become increasingly devastating, Poets For Palestine seeks to give humanity its proper voice and attempts to further demonstrate the role art takes in transmitting and projecting the enormous weight of compassion.

Genres: Poetry, Middle East

118 pages, Paperback

First published August 7, 2008

About the author

Remi Kanazi is a poet, writer, and organizer based in New York City. He is the author of Before the Next Bomb Drops: Rising Up from Brooklyn to Palestine, Poetic Injustice: Writings on Resistance and Palestine, and the editor of Poets For Palestine.

His political commentary has been featured by news outlets throughout the world, including the New York Times, Salon, Al Jazeera English, and BBC Radio. Kanazi has toured hundreds of venues across the United States, Canada, Europe and the Middle East. He is a Lannan Residency Fellow and an Advisory Committee member for the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

Reviews

[Sereen (TheGood_Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

“So let the Games begin
when the occupation ends
because I want the Olympic congregation
to recognize a nation
named
Palestine” (Palestine in Athens, p. 57)

I ordered this book after learning about Remi Kanazi’s work through Instagram. Poets for Palestine is a collection of poetry about the Palestinian experience, both back home and in the diaspora. I opened this book searching for pieces of my dad's stories nestled in these pages. And, as expected, I connected to some poems and artwork more than others. My favorite works included “Curfew” by Ibtisam Barakat, “Moot” by The N.O.M.A.D.S, “Hate” by Tahani Salah, “The Coffin Maker Speaks” by Lisa Suhair Majaj, “Birth of the Intifada” by Abdal Rahman Mozayen, and “A Tree in Rafah” by Dima Hilal. However, “Palestine in Athens” by Junichi P. Semitsu floored me. This was a poem I had been waiting my whole life to read, and the fact that it was written by a Japanese-American poet made it even more special to me. Overall, I would rate this book four stars out of five.

[Shane · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are a handful of fantastic poems in this collection, but a lot of them are of the polemical, blunt variety, which I usually don't really dig.