“I was born in Gaza/and one day I will be back home.”
This is a line from Palestinian poet Mohammed Moussa (gaza.guy on Instagram), who was welcomed at The Crescent on November 23rd. Mohammed Moussa is the founder of Gaza Poets Society, a spoken word collective that unites Palestinian creatives that is the first out of Gaza. Say Owt (@sayowt), the local York poetry organisation, brought Mohammed to York to share his work. The event had a sliding scale for ticket prices, ranging from £5 to £20, with all profits going towards the Gaza Poets Society.
Preceding Moussa were two additional poets: Kate Mclavern (@kaymclav), who was filling in for previously scheduled Minal Sukumar, and Nadira Alom (@nadira_alom). The event opened up with Say Owt founder, Henry Raby, reciting a poem of his own titled Hope Drowns Last, which explored the themes of hope and healing through a difficult political ecosystem that banks on the suffering of others.
Nadira’s poetry was the most harrowing of the night, discussing her experiences of being labelled a terrorist for vocally resisting the genocide in Gaza. Her poetry wove scenes of fear, anger, and a longing for Palestinians to be humanised in their life and their death. Her last poem explores the perspective of an individual who chose not to speak up for injustice before the revolution, similar in theme to poetry such as First They Came by Pastor Martin Niemöller. Her poetry was beautiful, haunting, and showed true passion as she commanded the room through her spoken word.
Kate Mclavern explores the idea of healing through two impactful poems. The first encouraged the audience to take a deep breath, ground themselves, and imagine themselves as large trees with winding branches and expansive roots. Through this imagery, Kate paints a clear picture that a tree allowed to thrive is akin to the liberation of Palestinians. Kate uses phrasing such as “I, us, we” to emphasise this. In her second poem, Kate takes inspiration from the song Why my love? by Aja Monet to illustrate her Egyptian familial love.
She paints a picture of a doting, hard-working mother who always comments on her appearance, hearty family dinners and cousins who are always there for her. Kate mentions briefly before the poem that it was an emotional one for her to write, which comes through thoughtfully in each line she reads.
After the two preceding acts, Mohammed was joined by Henry on stage for a sit-down chat. Henry asks Mohammed to talk about Gaza Poets Society and what themes Palestinian poets explore in their creative work. Mohammed jokingly told Henry he had a “very deep question”, but Mohammed thoughtfully answered that much of the poetry reflects sorrow and hope after the beginning of the genocide.
Mohammed explains that creative arts will always thrive, particularly in times of intense political strain and through the horrors of war. Mohammed, through light humour and crafted grace, explains that Gaza Poet Society is an outlet for those affected. They want to highlight the crafted expertise of their talented poets and creatives to push against the narrative of being labelled terrorists in life and death.
Mohammed’s poetry is beautiful and direct. He reads poems from his debut collection, Flamingo, as well as from his notes. In each of his poems, Mohammed paints a clear picture of longing for his home and mourning that the genocide has changed Gaza forever. Some of his poetry, such as Target, has themes of anger and frustration.
The poem opens with: “you dream/you are a target/you speak/you are a target”. Mohammed’s work is carefully crafted through his experiences in life, passion,and his love for his home. He shares emotional writing that is dedicated to his youngest sister, who was killed in Gaza—the whole room is still as he reads, and erupts into applause and sobs when he finishes.
Henry returns to the stage again as the room explodes in applause for all three poets and informs them that Mohammed’s debut work, Flamingo, is available for purchase at the back of the room.
The event was significant, beautiful, impactful and haunting. It allowed poets to speak their mind, tell their truth, and advocate for the liberation of everyone, showing the Yorkshire public that silence is violence.
Henry leads a chant of “Free Palestine” to close out the event, the red and green stage lights shining brilliantly as the entire room rallies together.