Poets respond to the Israel-Gaza conflict

Marcela Sulak and Tala Abu Rahmeh called on poets to respond to the Israeli and Gaza conflict(s) through letters and poetry in a collaborative project called “The Gaza Poetry Roundtable.”

Much of the media reduces the Gaza-Israel situation to numbers: rockets launched, bombs dropped, people killed; but poets can breathe life into these otherwise empty statistics by focusing more on the details. “The Gaza Roundtable” article begins:

DURING THE RECENT EVENTS in Gaza, I was struck by how many more questions I had than answers. As poets, we spend our days thinking about specificity and detail. We attempt to make sense of the world, or at least, illuminate the ways comprehension eludes us. If poetry is news that stays news, then what can poets help us understand about seemingly incomprehensible situations?

The first installment of a three part series by Sulak and Rahmeh is called “The Best Almond Cake I Ever Made: From Ramallah and Tel Aviv.”  The essay is an epistolary account of the two women’s intimate experiences with Gaza and Israel.

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Pat Johnson is currently working on his master’s in Fiction Writing at San Francisco State University, and is the owner and editor of the satirical news website The New Porker. When Pat’s not reading or writing he’s likely squeezing a lime into a Tecate and headed to the dance floor. He also creates short films, documentaries, and sketch comedies. Pat is completing his first novel, The Virgin and Marilyn Monroe, and writing a book of Creative Non-Fiction short stories.

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