The Nakba - 67 Years On - in Poetry

The Nakba—the Palestinian people’s violent and catastrophic displacement in 1948—is seared in the Palestinian collective memory, and its ramifications have defined all Palestinians’ lives whether in the West Bank, Gaza, inside Israel, or the diaspora. This tragedy has also found expression in all Palestinian arts and cultural endeavors. During the twentieth century, and especially after 1948, Palestinian poets and writers, musicians, visual artists, and others engaged in cultural expression have reflected the sentiments of loss, displacement, and nostalgia as well as of dignity, defiance, and steadfastness in their work.

On this day we commemorate the Nakba and remember all those who have suffered and continue to suffer the injustices perpetrated against the Palestinian people. We salute the many poets whose writings and sensibility communicate the Palestinians’ myriad experiences of loss and steadfastness. Here are a few poems to commemorate the Nakba. Send us your recommendations and we will add them to this list (email: zazzam@thejerusalemfund.org) .

“On This Land” by Mahmoud Darwish (read live, with Trio Joubran in the background)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luZ6cXv6RXU

Author bio: http://www.mahmouddarwish.com/english/biography.htm

“On the Trunk of an Olive Tree” by Tawfiq Zayyad

http://www.adab.com/en/modules.php?name=Sh3er&doWhat=shqas&qid=186

Author bio: http://www.palestine-family.net/index.php?nav=3-83&cid=90&did=5637

“The Deluge and the Tree” by Fadwa Tuqan

http://www.thehypertexts.com/Fadwa%20Tuqan%20Palestinian%20Poet%20Poetry%20Picture%20Bio.htm

Author bio: (same page)

“Exodus” by Taha Muhammad Ali

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/241016

Author bio: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/taha-muhammad-ali

“How Palestinians Keep Warm” by Naomi Shihab Nye

http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/how-palestinians-keep-warm

Author bio: http://imeu.org/article/naomi-shihab-nye-poet-and-author

“A Picture of the House at Beit Jala” by Ghassan Zaqtan

http://www.bpj.org/poems/zaqtan_houseatbeitjala.html

Author bio: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/ghassan-zaqtan

“Even” by Nathalie Handal

http://www.stationmuseum.com/Made_in_Palestine-Nathalie_Handal/handal.html

Author bio: http://www.nathaliehandal.com/biography.htm

“Nakba Day” by Remi Kanazi

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora/watch-remi-kanazis-new-poem-nakba-about-his-grandmothers-expulsion-1948

Author bio: http://www.poeticinjustice.net/aboutremi.aspx#.VVUoevlViko

“Mimesis” by Fadi Joudah

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/246180

Author bio: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/fady-joudah

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