We read from the work of Palestinian poets Maya Abu Al Hayyat, Fady Joudah, Asmaa Azaizeh and Najwan Darwish, who writes: “Death has liberated me/ from the shackles of our small jailers,/ just as poetry has liberated us/ from the greatest jailer–time.”

Show Notes

In Palestine these days, the olive harvest is under assault from Israeli settlers. Six prominent Palestinian human rights and civil socierty NGOs have just been designated terrorist organizations.

Maya Abu Al-Hayyat’s You Can Be The Last Leaf, Trans. Fady Joudah, is forthcoming from Milkweed Editions

Najwan Darwish’s Collection Exhausted On the Cross, Trans. Kareem James Abu-Zeid, is out from New York Review Books.

Fady Joudah curated The Baffler’s series of lyric dispatches from Palestine, from which Marcia read Asmaa Azaizeh’s Reflection.

We read Fady Joudah’s poem Dehiscence, from his new collection Tethered to Stars.

And if you are interested in hearing much more Arabic poetry, check out the podcast Maqsouda, another Sowt production.