Few days ago , to be exact on 21st October 2013, Mr Refaat Alareer , a Palestinian academic and writer paid a visit to us, and this really made my day! I've never thought that he'd come to our class since he's working in his motherland, Gaza. Mr Refaat , it was such an honour to see you here! Okay, let me just be honest here, actually I didn't know that there's Palestinian or Arab poet like Mr Refaat who defending themselves by writing. Getting back , at the very begining of the talk, Mr Refaat told us about how Zionist movement managed to occupy Palestin, then he continued on how to write poetry, shared his experience when he first write a poetry. He himself did not realized that he got the ability to write at first. The thing is, we need to believe that we can write and we should have will to write poetry etc. One thing that I remember is , we should not give up when it comes to writing. [ basically that's what I'm doing] , we just need to write everything that comes from our mind . I really adore Mr Refaat as his poems made me realized about hardship faced by Gazans. When he read the poem to the whole class that day, "I am You" I can feel his emotions, nearly made me burst out my tears.
I am You
Two steps: one, two.
Look in the mirror:
The horror, the horror!
The butt of your M-16 on my cheekbone
The yellow patch it left
The bullet-shaped scar expanding
Like a swastika,
Snaking across my face,
The heartache flowing
Out of my eyes dripping
Out of my nostrils piercing
My ears flooding
The place.
Like it did to you
70 years ago
Or so.
Look in the mirror:
The horror, the horror!
The butt of your M-16 on my cheekbone
The yellow patch it left
The bullet-shaped scar expanding
Like a swastika,
Snaking across my face,
The heartache flowing
Out of my eyes dripping
Out of my nostrils piercing
My ears flooding
The place.
Like it did to you
70 years ago
Or so.
***
I am just you.
I am your past haunting
Your present and your future.
I strive like you did.
I fight like you did.
I resist like you resisted
And for a moment,
I’d take your tenacity
As a model,
Were you not holding
The barrel of the gun
Between my bleeding
Eyes.
I am just you.
I am your past haunting
Your present and your future.
I strive like you did.
I fight like you did.
I resist like you resisted
And for a moment,
I’d take your tenacity
As a model,
Were you not holding
The barrel of the gun
Between my bleeding
Eyes.
***
One. Two.
The very same gun
The very same bullet
That had killed your Mom
And killed your Dad
Is being used,
Against me,
By you.
***
Mark this bullet and mark in your gun.
If you sniff it, it has your and my blood.
It has my present and your past.
It has my present.
It has your future.
That’s why we are twins,
Same life track
Same weapon
Same suffering
Same facial expressions drawn
On the face of the killer,
Same everything
Except that in your case
The victim has evolved, backward,
Into a victimizer.
I tell you.
I am you.
Except that I am not the you of now.
The very same gun
The very same bullet
That had killed your Mom
And killed your Dad
Is being used,
Against me,
By you.
***
Mark this bullet and mark in your gun.
If you sniff it, it has your and my blood.
It has my present and your past.
It has my present.
It has your future.
That’s why we are twins,
Same life track
Same weapon
Same suffering
Same facial expressions drawn
On the face of the killer,
Same everything
Except that in your case
The victim has evolved, backward,
Into a victimizer.
I tell you.
I am you.
Except that I am not the you of now.
***
I do not hate you.
I want to help you stop hating
And killing me.
I tell you:
The noise of your machine gun
Renders you deaf
The smell of the powder
Beats that of my blood.
The sparks disfigure
My facial expressions.
Would you stop shooting?
For a moment?
Would you?
I do not hate you.
I want to help you stop hating
And killing me.
I tell you:
The noise of your machine gun
Renders you deaf
The smell of the powder
Beats that of my blood.
The sparks disfigure
My facial expressions.
Would you stop shooting?
For a moment?
Would you?
***
All you have to do
Is close your eyes
(Seeing these days
Blinds our hearts.)
Close your eyes, tightly
So that you can see
In your mind’s eye.
Then look into the mirror.
One. Two.
I am you.
I am your past.
And killing me,
You kill you.
All you have to do
Is close your eyes
(Seeing these days
Blinds our hearts.)
Close your eyes, tightly
So that you can see
In your mind’s eye.
Then look into the mirror.
One. Two.
I am you.
I am your past.
And killing me,
You kill you.
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| http://thisisgaza.wordpress.com/ |
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| http://thisisgaza.wordpress.com/ |
I've got some useful tips from Mr Refaat on how to become a great poet. The first rule when we are starting out to become a poet is to read, read, and read high quality poetry. And then read some more. Many people think that they can write poetry without having read any of it. They cant. The key is, to read the poetry and get some inspirations from it before we start to write our own poetry.I found that it's one of the best way to develop my writing skills and polish my talent. Apart from that, in order to start writing a poetry, we should find a source of inspiration like Mr Refaat said, "try to imitate great poem and get some inspiration from it". The key to a great poem is finding passion and motivation for the poem. I'm still remember how I got the inspiration when I wrote my own poem, inspired by Naomi's poem " All Things Not Considered", where I tried to feel the emotions in Naomi's poem and imagined that I'm the persona in the poem. The thing is, I tried to bring the feeling through the lines of my poem. Mr Refaat also mentioned about "be yourself" when writing a poem. I personally believe that this will bring out our inner feelings and help to convey those feelings in rhythmic words because that's what poetry is all about!
The talk last for about 2 hours and during the Q&A session, there's question about education in Gaza, and Mr Refaat did mention that most female in Gaza involve in activism.
p/s : sorry guys, I can't attach the picture during that day here. Thank you for reading! :)
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