{"id":971,"date":"2025-02-11T11:53:26","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T11:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/?p=971"},"modified":"2025-02-11T11:53:26","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T11:53:26","slug":"palestinian-wail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/2025\/02\/11\/palestinian-wail\/","title":{"rendered":"Palestinian Wail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I recently read the the book ‘Palestinian Wail<\/a>‘, by Yahia Lababidi. Here’s my review<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nfirst poem in Yahia\u2019s powerful collection \u2018Palestinian Wail\u2019,\nis called Hope. In this short piece Yahia introduces us to the\nexperience that is the foundation of his collection: Hope is smaller\nthan you think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\ntruth touched me right away. Although we might not have lived through\na genocide, survived mass murder or other atrocities personally, we\neach know is some small way of the fragility of hope. Thus, I would\nsay to any reader, this collection is for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nmoves on from Hope to casualties and there\u2019s no doubt it is a tough\nread. Silence follows for most of the following pages, as I try to\nfind a small green blade of hope. I find one in Yahia\u2019s suggestion\nthat you need to \u2018bring a bird\u2019 to a protest to \u2018set others\nfree\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Few\nof the poems are all that long. This means you can meditate on each\none. I had the pages open, one at a time, for a good long look but as\nhe writes in the poem about Columbia University \u2018there\u2019s no\nlooking away\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\nmight think that would mean I\u2019d want to rush through, skip over and\nfinish this collection as quickly as possible. Not a bit of it. I\nfelt, for once in the dreadful war, that I was doing something\npositive. So small, so insignificant, but something: I was\nwitnessing. This was a tiny act of solidarity by one who hardly knows\nhow to do such a thing adequately. Yahia understand this. His poem\n\u2018How to protest\u2019 knowingly states \u2018Truth, Beauty, Justice,\nPeace\/are not at all easy to wear\u2019. Equally it\u2019s not easy to know\nwhat to say during a genocide. Yahai points to \u2018tears of kindness\nand solidarity\u2019 rather than \u2018a loud and wounding Silence\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\none who has often written about the different kinds of silence, I can\nonly weep in my agreement. For him, it is the music of his homeland\nthat finally causes him to weep. The collection is not long, but\nclearly illustrates the \u2018light and beauty\u2019 he hungers for and\nthat he found in writing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is followed by a Afterword drawing on his own experience and an acknowledgement of the role played by his mentor, Mark Burrows, in arranging the collection. Please read it all if you can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Palestine<\/a>
"Palestine<\/a>Palestine Wail<\/a> by Yahia Lababidi<\/a> My rating: 5 of 5 stars<\/a>

The first poem in Yahia\u2019s powerful collection \u2018Palestinian Wail\u2019, is called Hope. In this short piece Yahia introduces us to the experience that is the foundation of his collection: Hope is smaller than you think.
This truth touched me right away. Although we might not have lived through a genocide, survived mass murder or other atrocities personally, we each know is some small way of the fragility of hope. Thus, I would say to any reader, this collection is for you.
It moves on from Hope to casualties and there\u2019s no doubt it is a tough read. Silence follows for most of the following pages, as I try to find a small green blade of hope. I find one in Yahia\u2019s suggestion that you need to \u2018bring a bird\u2019 to a protest to \u2018set others free\u2019.
Few of the poems are all that long. This means you can meditate on each one. I had the pages open, one at a time, for a good long look but as he writes in the poem about Columbia University \u2018there\u2019s no looking away\u2019.
You might think that would mean I\u2019d want to rush through, skip over and finish this collection as quickly as possible. Not a bit of it. I felt, for once in the dreadful war, that I was doing something positive. So small, so insignificant, but something: I was witnessing. This was a tiny act of solidarity by one who hardly knows how to do such a thing adequately. Yahia understand this. His poem \u2018How to protest\u2019 knowingly states \u2018Truth, Beauty, Justice, Peace\/are not at all easy to wear\u2019. Equally it\u2019s not easy to know what to say during a genocide. Yahai points to \u2018tears of kindness and solidarity\u2019 rather than \u2018a loud and wounding Silence\u2019.
As one who has often written about the different kinds of silence, I can only weep in my agreement. For him, it is the music of his homeland that finally causes him to weep. The collection is not long, but clearly illustrates the \u2018light and beauty\u2019 he hungers for and that he found in writing it.
It is followed by a Afterword drawing on his own experience and an acknowledgement of the role played by his mentor, Mark Burrows, in arranging the collection. Please read it all if you can.
View all my reviews<\/a>“>http:\/\/<a href=”https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/217137517-palestine-wail” style=”float: left; padding-right: 20px”><img border=”0″ alt=”Palestine Wail” src=”https:\/\/i.gr-assets.com\/images\/S\/compressed.photo.goodreads.com\/books\/1722697559l\/217137517._SX98_.jpg” \/><\/a><a href=”https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/217137517-palestine-wail”>Palestine Wail<\/a> by <a href=”https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/author\/show\/205852.Yahia_Lababidi”>Yahia Lababidi<\/a><br\/> My rating: <a href=”https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/7311081024″>5 of 5 stars<\/a><br \/><br \/> The first poem in Yahia\u2019s powerful collection \u2018Palestinian Wail\u2019, is called Hope. In this short piece Yahia introduces us to the experience that is the foundation of his collection: Hope is smaller than you think.<br \/>This truth touched me right away. Although we might not have lived through a genocide, survived mass murder or other atrocities personally, we each know is some small way of the fragility of hope. Thus, I would say to any reader, this collection is for you.<br \/>It moves on from Hope to casualties and there\u2019s no doubt it is a tough read. Silence follows for most of the following pages, as I try to find a small green blade of hope. I find one in Yahia\u2019s suggestion that you need to \u2018bring a bird\u2019 to a protest to \u2018set others free\u2019.<br \/>Few of the poems are all that long. This means you can meditate on each one. I had the pages open, one at a time, for a good long look but as he writes in the poem about Columbia University \u2018there\u2019s no looking away\u2019.<br \/>You might think that would mean I\u2019d want to rush through, skip over and finish this collection as quickly as possible. Not a bit of it. I felt, for once in the dreadful war, that I was doing something positive. So small, so insignificant, but something: I was witnessing. This was a tiny act of solidarity by one who hardly knows how to do such a thing adequately. Yahia understand this. His poem \u2018How to protest\u2019 knowingly states \u2018Truth, Beauty, Justice, Peace\/are not at all easy to wear\u2019. Equally it\u2019s not easy to know what to say during a genocide. Yahai points to \u2018tears of kindness and solidarity\u2019 rather than \u2018a loud and wounding Silence\u2019.<br \/>As one who has often written about the different kinds of silence, I can only weep in my agreement. For him, it is the music of his homeland that finally causes him to weep. The collection is not long, but clearly illustrates the \u2018light and beauty\u2019 he hungers for and that he found in writing it.<br \/>It is followed by a Afterword drawing on his own experience and an acknowledgement of the role played by his mentor, Mark Burrows, in arranging the collection. Please read it all if you can.<br \/> <br\/><br\/> <a href=”https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/list\/133654549-janet-lees”>View all my reviews<\/a><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Palestine Wail<\/a> by Yahia Lababidi<\/a>

My rating: 5 of 5 stars<\/a>

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently read the the book ‘Palestinian Wail‘, by Yahia Lababidi. Here’s my review The first poem in Yahia\u2019s powerful collection \u2018Palestinian Wail\u2019, is called Hope. In this short piece Yahia introduces us to the experience that is the foundation of his collection: Hope is smaller than you think. This truth touched me right away. … Continue reading “Palestinian Wail”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,71,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book","category-hope","category-silence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=971"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":974,"href":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/971\/revisions\/974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}