Introduction by Jehan Bseiso
Nothing about Haidar al-Ghazali’s poetry is occupied. Neither his imagination, nor the choice of words and images. This twenty one year old Palestinian poet from Gaza writes with the same ease about love as he does about genocide. His poetry is a refusal to sacrifice tenderness, no matter the subject.
Haidar has been writing throughout the genocide, in the face of the genocide, publishing poems, diaries and epitaphs for friends. He has been read worldwide and has emerged as one of the most original and influential voices of his generation.
These three quiet and powerful poems have been chosen from a complete diwan written in Gaza, as yet unpublished, and appearing here now for the first time. Tenderly translated by Zainab al-Qaissi, they return us to sites of immeasurable ruin, to the pressing pen of the census officer, the fingerless hands counting losses and children playing a game called “home”.
Three New Poems by Haidar al-Ghazali
Translated by Zainab al-Qaissi
