Why So Few Women on the Street at Night

by Sarona Abuaker

A searing and multi-form debut from Palestinian human rights activist and theorist Sarona Abuaker. Complete with images from performance pieces, essays, fragments of theory and notebooks, these are poems that engage the reader in thinking about liberation.

Genres: Poetry

116 pages, Paperback

Published November 3, 2021

Reviews

[Michela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un testo ibrido in cui si incontrano poesia, fotografia, saggistica, flussi di coscienza, una commistione tra inglese e arabo, linguaggio scientifico e gergale. Crudo, doloroso, fortemente visivo, sperimentale: quelle onomatopee possiedono una forza che fa male. “La resistenza a volte è una costrizione”, scrive Abuaker.

[Matthew Wilcox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first real introduction to a whole book of experimental contemporary poetry. I really loved it. Abuaker's reflection on returning to Palestine, and how a true return needs to be anti-capitalist and un-commodified, is very thought-provoking and obviously true. The best part is that she doesn't use the perfect return as an excuse to push it off until the end of time; instead she makes it clear that a return is very necessary and should be thought of as an action, not an idea.

As a queer Palestinian herself, she uses her perspective to assert that both identities are very similar to each other. Queer people and Palestinians don't fit into the system that has been built around them, and as a result they're thought of as nuisances or violently expelled. It's not their fault that the system has no room for their identity, but many people act like it is.

[Majed · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really interesting read that blends poetry, prose and photography into an experimental portrayal of the author’s stream of consciousness.
I will say i enjoyed the poetry bits a lot more than anything else, with two stand outs being “what they say when they colonize us” and “walking portobello road/Laa sh3ra ras al 3mood”
The tone of this collection is charmingly varied, sometimes it feels like i’m reading an academic paper and moments later, a text message from a friend.

[Asti Tami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started to think more poets should write a history piece after reading this one (i read this as part of the "Read Palestine Week" last December). The way the author described the story was so delicate yet felt so insidious. I also enjoy the author's exceptional insights about biology, it definitely add more nuance and uniqueness to her way of uncovering the truth about Palestinian lives.

I'm particularly in love with 2 titles of her works:
1. Suture Fragmentations – a note on return.
I didn't know there was such thing as "the art of returning". The way she described the Isr**li's settlement process was so poetic (ofc she's a poet), in a sense that we can feel the subtle, long process of it, yet it was undeniably progressive. I was also intrigued by the possibility that the author doesn't care about words form rules, as if she can make her own word forms, which i ADORE and enjoy so much.

2. SLUG OPS
This was the part when i thought she must have a biology background to write something like this. I enjoy learning little facts about slugs and their role in restoring Palestinian's land fertility, the very basic component to get a proper life.

[Jessica-sim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetry, like any art form, matters because it can make us feel what facts and headlines cannot. These poems don't ask for emotional distance. They pull you into the lived experience of war, displacement, injustice, and the impossible weight of surviving them.

I didn't agree with every sentiment expressed, and there were moments where the intensity of the anger shocked me. But I also couldn't ignore that these poems come from a place of profound pain. They are not trying to be comfortable or balanced, they are bearing witness.

[Federica · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved the use of different art mediums, really enjoyed the poetry sections. highly recommend!!

[Laurel]

“not all of us have documents some of us have memories”

this is for everyone who enjoys the artistry of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf

[hayila · Rating 3 out of 5]

bunch of paragraphs (mainly poems) in which those are so beautifully written!