304 Pages
©2012
Publisher: Lost Horse Press
Purchase includes: PDF

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Appalled by the violence of Israel's Operation Cast Lead against Gaza in 2008/2009, Joan Dobbie and her niece Grace Beeler, descendants of Holocaust survivors, issued a call for poems by writers of "Palestinian or Jewish heritage. . . for an anthology that strives for understanding . . . in the belief that poetry can create understanding and understanding can dull hatred." This book is a tribute to resourceful imaginations. Its purpose is to give readers an occasion to perceive the aspirations and passions of those whose lives have been affected by the struggle--in Joseph Conrad's words, "to make you hear, to make you feel--it is, before all, to make you see."

The poems are arranged in seven sections, each dealing with an attribute or phase of the Palestine-Israel struggle. When possible, selections alternate between Jewish and Arab authors, effecting dissonance in subject, emphasis, and attitude--an uneasy multiculturalism.

Contributors
Philip Metres • Ruth Fogelman • Yousef el Qedra • Yasmin Snounu • Yael Ben-Israel • Willa Schneberg • Vivien Sansour • Tom Berman • Tawfiq Zayyad • Susan Martin • Sharon Doubiago • Seema V. Atalla • Scot Siegel • Sandy Polishuk • Samuel Hazo • Samih al-Qasim • Sami Al Jundi • Sam Hamod • Sabena Stark • Rochelle Mass • Rick Black • Richard Tillinghast • Richard E. Sherwin • Reuven Goldfarb • Reja-e Busailah • Rachel Corrie • Rachel Barenblat • Peter Marcus • Nizar Qabbani • Nitza Agam • Naomi Shihab Nye • Monica Raymond • Molly Spencer • Miriam Stanley • Mike Maggio • Merle Feld • Maryna Ajaja • Marjorie Stamm Rosenfeld • Marian Haddad • Mahmoud Darwish • Lahab Assef Al-Jundi • Khaled Abdallah • Judy Kronenfeld • Judith A. Brice • Joy Ladin • Johnmichael Simon • Jerry Newman • J. Weintraub • Ingrid Wendt • Helen Bar-Lev • Hannah Stein • Hadassah Haskale • Gloria Bletter • Gavriel Reisner (Ben-Ephraim) • Fadwa Tuqan • Erik Sutter-Kaye • Ellen Bass • Elana Bell • Edward Morin • Doreen Stock • Diab Rabie • Debbi Brody • David Miller • David Gershator • Dana Negev • Dafna Hornike • CB Follett • Carolyne Wright • Carol Alena Aronoff • Bonnie J. Morris • Atar Hadari • Alicia Ostriker • Aftab Yusuf Shaikh • Adonis (Ali Ahmad Said Esber) • Adam Schonbrun • Ada Aharoni

At this time in history, nothing could be more important than the voices of poets who fulfill a noble intention. War is in the headlines and on the news. These poets are the connective tissue of the hearts and souls involved.

(Grace Cavalieri Washington Independent Review of Books 2012-01-00)