Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza
Mosab Abu Toha
Winner of the 2022 Palestine Book Awards Creative AwardFinalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in PoetryThese poems emerge directly from the experience of growing up and living one’s entire life in Gaza, making a life for one’s family and raising a family in constant lockdown, and often under direct attack. In this poetry debut, conceived during the Israeli bombing campaign of May 2021, Mosab Abu Toha writes about his life under siege, first as a child, and then as a young father. A survivor of four brutal military attacks, he bears witness to a grinding cycle of destruction and assault, and yet, his poetry is inspired by a profoundly universal humanity. more
144 pages, Paperback
First published City Lights Publishers
4.75
Rating
1343
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328
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Mosab Abu Toha
3 books 167 followers
Mosab Abu Toha is the winner of a Palestine Book Award, an American Book Award, Walcott Poetry Prize, and also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry.He is a Palestinian poet, scholar, and librarian who was born in Gaza and has spent his life there. He is the founder of the Edward Said Library, Gaza’s first English-language library. Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear is his debut book of poems. It won a 2022 Palestine Book Award and was named a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry.
In 2019-2020, Abu Toha was a Visiting Poet in the Department of Comparative Literature at Harvard University.
Abu Toha is a columnist for Arrowsmith Press, and his writings from Gaza have also appeared in The Nation and Literary Hub. His poems have been published in Poetry, The Nation, The New York Review of Books, the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day, and Poetry Daily, among others.
Community reviews
It doesn't feel right to rate a book like this, so instead I'll share quotes I highlighted:Gaza is a city where tourists gather to take photos next to destroyed buildings or graveyards. A country that exists only in my mind. Its flag has no room to fly freely, but there is space on the coffins of my countrymen. My son's name is Yazzan. He was born in 2015, or a year after the 2014 war. more
Across a lifetime of bombings and violence, yet through a prose of beauty and grace, Mosab Abu Toha examines life in Palestine in his debut collection Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza. These poems chronicle the destruction of his country, the mass murdering of innocents, and hones in on the omnipresent fears of bombings and soldier-fire amidst a landscape that still arrives in striking beauty in contrast to smoldering wreckage around it. Abu Toha also provides an extraordinary interview after the poems which is worth picking the book up even if just for that, where he discusses his life, art and hopes. There is a resiliency that keeps this harrowing collection afloat, and for all the ways it continuously makes us confront the devastation and violence, it also champions the spirit of survival in the Palestinian people. ‘Don’t ever be surprised / to see a rose shoulder up / among the ruins of the house: / This is how we survived,’ he writes, and that is precisely how this collection feels: a brilliant rose rising up amongst the violence, reminding us to listen, to not turn away and to cherish human life. more
"Gaza is a city where tourists gather to take photos next to destroyed buildings or graveyards. " With stark honesty, Mosab Abu Toha shares stories of death and destruction inflicted on him and his family, who were first evicted from their land as happened to many Palestinians, and then indiscriminately bombarded ever after by the right-wing Israeli decision-makers. There is a death and a victim in most poems here, and these are only a few victims among the thousands. A must read. more
THINGS YOU MAY FIND HIDDEN IN MY EAR For Alicia M. Quesnel, MD I When you open my ear, touch it gently. My mother’s voice lingers somewhere inside. Her voice is the echo that helps me recover equilibrium when I feel dizzy during my attentiveness. You may encounter songs in Arabic, poems in English I recite to myself, or a song I chant to the chirping birds in our backyard. more
Definitely a must-read if you're interested in works by Palestinian writers about the Gazan experience, especially with the recent decolonization efforts on the part of Palestine. This is quick, accessible, and infused with emotion. more
This is a hard one to review. I had to read the poems in small doses because it was utterly emotionally devastating, the interview part at the end was really interesting too (although also often quite heartbreaking). It's not just heartbreak though, there's beauty in there too, such as when Abu Toha speaks about how different the meaning of Sha'ir (poet) is in Arabic. This isn't strictly speaking a memoir, but I honestly don't feel like it's the kind of book I can put a star rating on. . more
Your words touched my heart and soul. As a palestinian refugee myself, I can identify with the stories told in these poems. I couldn’t have imagined the atrocities of this war could have been described so beautifully. I await desperately for the next book. more
“Why is it when I dream of Palestine,that I see it in black and white. ”. more
In his searing and unflinching debut, Mosab Abu Toha writes of his beloved Gaza and the torments it continues to endure. These poems speak with palpable urgency. Nevertheless underneath the terror, there’s a lingering sense of optimism and survival: “Through it all, the strawberries have never stopped growing. ”. more
Mosab Abu Toha’s poetry follows the steps of others before him, such as Mahmoud Darwish and the work of Said. His poems speak for the ones who are no longer here and for the ones who are still part of the genocidal Sionist crimes against Palestine. When he speaks for himself he does it as a we, as us, the other, the one who belongs to an in between place. . more
What a beautiful collection of poems and short stories written by a talented young gazan Mosab M. Abu-Toha . Although written in a language that is so easy to read, but the reality of these stories is so hard to understand and digest. How life can be so fragile living in such difficult and unfair circumstances. Mosab is the founder of Edward Saeed library in Gaza. more
I was almost finished reading Mosab Abu Toha's impactful book of poetry November 2023 when in disbelief and dismay, read about his unlawful arrest at an Israeli checkpoint as he was trying to leave Gaza with his family. The family's passports and documents were confiscated, he was beaten while in jail and only released under international pressure. Another Palestinian author, Dr Refaat Alareer, has been killed under Israeli's relentless bombing of Gaza, while I was in the middle of reading the anthology edited by him - Gaza Unsilenced. This genocide is happening before our very eyes. As of today, the death toll is above 25,000 with the majority women and children. more
City Lights Books has shared a free digital copy of this collection, which includes an interview with the author at the end. Words fail me when trying to say something about the poems, but as Mosab says the important thing is feeling:"The word for poetry in Arabic, sha’ir, doesn’t refer to a particular form, it only has to do with feeling. So you have to be an expert in showing your feelings on paper or reciting your poetry to people so that they can feel what you’re feeling. It can be an image but it does have to leave an impact on the reader. And if you can make them cry or smile, then you are a poet; if you can make them shiver, then you are a poet. more
Beautiful collection of poems written by a young poet from Gaza Strip. With flagrant honesty, Mosab Abu Toha shares his past growing up during the violent conflicts in his land. In an interview in the back of the book, he speaks about how when growing up, no one ever told him what the situation was, rather it was just his world. His poems speak so casually of death and bombing:"One day, we were sleeping in our house. A bomb fell on a nearby farm at 6am, like an alarm clock waking us up early for school". more
A heartbreaking collection of spare, elegant poems. The real heart of this collection is how the idea of a home that is traumatized and ripped apart can be personified. The poet brings to life the landscapes described. An important representation of a voice from Palestine. more
𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗮 𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘂𝗽𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲:𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗱. - A ROSE SHOULDERS UP~𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘔𝘢𝘺 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘔𝘺 𝘌𝘢𝘳 is the epitome and affirmation of the saying, “Poetry is the mirror of life. ” However, life, as depicted in these poems, is not one that is marked by normalcy. In fact, for the last 76 years since the Nakba, Palestinians have been subject to daily Israeli settler violence, dispossession, and displacement. The Nakba is still happening. more
WE DESERVE A BETTER DEATH We deserve a better death. Our bodies are disfigured and twisted, embroidered with bullets and shrapnel. Our names are pronounced incorrectly on the radio and TV. Our photos, plastered onto the walls of our buildings, fade and grow pale. The inscriptions on our gravestones disappear, covered in the feces of birds and reptiles. more
“When you open my ear, touch itgently. My mother’s voice lingers somewhere inside. Her voice is the echo that helps me recover equilibriumwhen I feel dizzy during my attentiveness. You may encounter songs in Arabic,poems in English I recite to myself,or a song I chant to the chirping birds in our backyard. When you stitch the cut, don’t forget to put all these back in my ear. more
“for us, the fear of dying before living haunts us while we are still in our mothers’ wombs. ” ___so many beautiful and heartbreaking poems on such an important topic. . more
And when we die, our bones will continue to grow, to reach and intertwine with the roots of the olive and orange trees, to bathe in the sweet Yaffa sea. One day, we will be born again when you’re not there. Because this land knows us. She is our mother. When we die, we’re just resting in her womb until the darkness is cleared. more
A book I think everyone should take the time to read. Doesn’t take more than an hour, two at most. It is a collection of beautiful and insightful poems about Palestinians and their lives in Gaza. Discussing the attacks Israel has launched on them, the bombings, bodies trapped under rumble, losing homes, losing friends and families, being wounded, etc. This gave me such an insight about what was going on that I didn’t before. more
Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear is a collection of poems written by Mosab Abu Toha. These poems highlight his experience living and growing up in Gaza. Mosab Abu Toha's words are stark, raw, and blunt in his honesty. I took my time with each poem so I could properly digest every single word. Amidst all the videos and photos coming out of Gaza, reading these poems felt like I was experiencing a sense of déjà vu. more
“My grandfather was a terrorist—He departed his house, leaving it for the coming guests,left some water on the table, his best,lest the guests die of thirst after their conquest. ”“On the scale, stones and rebars are heavierthan souls. ”“One day, we will be born again when you’re not there. Because this land knows us. She is our mother. more
There is a point in this collection where you will feel inundated with the same themes and images--drones and F-16s interrupting briefs moments of solace--again and again and again, taking over even the briefest of poems. Then you will realize that is the point, and that is what makes this collection masterful: its unflinching repetition of horror made mundane, of monstrosity turned typical, of the feeling of perpetual estrangement from one's ancestry, one's rightful land, one's own organs, one's own death. From the river to the sea, Palestine should belong to Palestinians: may we all work toward ending the apartheid state. . more
Even the interview at the end was poetic & heart-wrenching. more
I heard about Mosab Abu Toha a few months ago, when he was captured by the IOF as he tried to escape Gaza. This collection of poems is so striking. To read his poems and learn about his life growing up in Gaza as a child and an adult, only to know that he had to face the war for the past few months is heartbreaking. I hope he and his family are safe now. parts from the book i underlined:* "But plays are still performed in Gaza. more
“A country that exists only in my mind. Its flag has no room to fly freely, but there is space on the coffins of my countrymen. ”Things You May Find Hidden In My Ear is a collection of poems written by Mosab Abu Toha about his life living under the occupation in Gaza. I sobbed reading this book. You can feel Mosab’s every raw emotion in every poem. more
Such a beautiful collection of poems, and I have always said that I don't like poetry. It truly touches your soul. "Why is it when I dream of Palestine,that I see it in black and white. ". more
I thought this was great. The poet wrote in such a sensory way that I felt drawn into the space he created. The smells, sensations, sounds. There's a poem that references teeth chattering that I really felt, for example. Small but mighty. more
”I weave my poems with my veins. I want to build a poem like a solid home, but hopefully not with my bones. ”“In Gaza, some of us cannot completely die. Every time a bomb falls, every time shrapnel hits our graves, every time the rubble piles up on our heads, we are awakened from our temporary death. ”“Through it all, the strawberries have never stopped growing. more