Description

Palestinian poet, novelist, and journalist Ghassan Zaqtan is one of the most consequential writers of our time. His unadorned, cleanly delivered narratives of war and witness are animated by a joyful sensuality-how better to express loss than to illuminate living the dailiness of resistance? Zaqtan's poems are elegantly translated and introduced by Fady Joudah, a Palestinian-American poet whose insight into Zaqtan's work is at once intimate and historical. The books from which these poems were drawn are themselves survivors of disposession, occupation, and exile-in some cases only a few copies remain of the original Arabic editions.

When interviewed by PBS for their special on Palestinian poets, Zaqtan said, "I am not the kind of person who will walk in front of the demonstration. . . . I walk behind the demonstration in order to collect the small things that may fall, whether it's the handkerchief or a child's backpack or a purse." This generous volume represents two decades of incandescent creativity.