Passages Through Genocide - Hind Joudah
Palestinian writers confronting the genocide in Gaza, lift up their words.
Tonight the wind wafts pollen through ruined fields and homes.
The earth shivers with love, with the agony of giving birth,
while the Invader spreads stories of submission and surrender.—Fadwa Tuqan
All too often the voices of the oppressed are silenced, we hear their stories through the filter of other voices. Experts, analysts and moderates are quoted and shared, but how often do we hear from the people on the ground? In the west we want everything packaged into digestible soundbites. We do not want to see anything messy, anything that will make us feel ashamed, and we never want to be confronted with anger. If we are truly in solidarity, we need to stop being so fragile. We need to accept the rage and the grief. We need to truly listen. We have been asked to amplify Palestinian voices, to centre Palestinian experiences. Passages Through Genocide has lifted up Palestinian voices. The world needs to listen. Over the next few days I will be sharing these voices. Please share widely and publish on your own platforms.
نجمع، نترجم وننشر نصوصًا لكاتبات وكتّاب يواجهون الإبادة في غزّة، لنرفع كلماتهم في وجه العالم. نحثّكم على مشاركة، طباعة، نشر، وتوزيع النصوص بكل الطرق الممكنة، دعمًا للنضال الفلسطينيّ لأجل التحرير.ا
We collect, translate and publish texts from Palestinian writers confronting the genocide in Gaza, to lift up their words.
We also find that many international solidarity platforms tend to amplify Palestinian voices that conform to Western expectations, finding it easier to speak about the Palestinian as an ultimate passive victim. On the contrary, we know that Gaza’s unimaginable pain always coexists with the unbreakable will to resist Zionism, and must be expressed as such.
We urge you to share, print, publish and distribute these texts by all possible means, in support of Palestinian liberation.
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هند جودة | Hind Joudah
Hind Joudah
Poet from Al-Breij Refugee Camp, Gaza. She published two collections of poems entitled “Someone always leaves,” and “No sugar in the city.”
Oct. 9, 2023
The ones, who dug a tunnel with spoons to escape, are cut from the same cloth as those that took the decision to launch a land, sea, and air attack. These are individuals moved by faith to set a greater purpose, as seen in these defining days, and they are not deterred by injustice, collective or individual punishment.
Those hearts were molded from a clay of wonders. In astonishing ways, they set out to light the path of freedom for this generation. They planned a method of attack, which was only achieved through years of preparation, patience, and bearing the cost of such a choice on life in Gaza! That life, where you live under a sky occupied by surveillance cameras that never go away!
What are these miracles that we are destined to live through, while witnessing with all our senses that which we can barely believe!
Our hearts are breaking for the victims, but in spite of everything, the sacrifice this time is gratifying. As we no longer only receive terror, but rather now have men that are equipped to orchestrate, and rightfully deliver terror to those who have oppressed, occupied, and stole our homeland, and violated the lives of its people.
Oh God, the people of Palestine are consumed with despair, losses, and killings that have burned their eyes with tears. Oh God, the men were not weak in seeking justice and restoring their rights; but rather walked with their shrouds to it, so is there salvation, and is there any hope?!
Oct. 30, 2023
What does it mean to be a poet in times of war?
It means apologizing …
extensively apologizing
to the burnt trees
to the nestless birds
to the crushed homes
to the long cracks along the streets
to the pale faced children before and after death
to the faces of every sad or murdered mother
What does it mean to be safe in times of war?
It means being ashamed …
of your smile
of having warmth
of your clean clothes
of your idle hours
of your yawning
of your cup of coffee
of your restful sleep
of having alive loved ones
of having a full stomach
of having available water
of having clean water
of being able to shower
And for incidentally being alive!
Oh God,
I don't want to be poet in times of war
Nov. 2, 2023
I will blow on the wounds of Gaza
and sing her to sleep!
I will cover her ears so she can't hear the sounds of planes nor missiles
I will place her children in the chamber of my heart and lock them in,
I will connect them to my umbilical cord!
I will make Gaza sleep
I promise her that
I promise you!
I haven't gone mad yet,
I am dreaming
Nov. 9, 2023
No sugar in the city!
I want to bake a cake, but there's no sugar in the city
no smiles pouring from passing faces
no balconies overlooking dreams,
and the windows have not returned to their places since the last wars!
I want to bake a loaf of bread,
but there's no wheat in the fields,
There is only a dilapidated scarecrow
Scaring the peasants, but not the crow!
I want to bake a moon,
but there's no oven that can fit its towering roundness
So I decided to devour my raw heart
for there's no fire in the city!
Dec. 3, 2023
Hello world
I am there
I mean here
yes exactly, here in Gaza!
under this grey pile
I was screaming moments ago
but the last missile
made me fly to you
to tell you what you are incapable of comprehending!
Oh world, it is an evening of hunger
not necessarily in my stomach
and not a hunger for the bread that you eliminate for a diet!
Not a hunger for the miserable aid you sent in containers for my children,
I stood at the crossroad of rifles, and it did not arrive!
It's not just queues of hungry people
Nor the protruding bones of the hungry
I'm hungry for myself!
I mean, I was hungry for me as a human,
Before your next missile eats me!
….
Oh world, it is an evening of madness
What do you think as you watch silently, pretending to understand?
Nodding your head
Hammering your gavel
to decide a humanitarian pause for me
Oh thank you
I will smile with gratitude
I will laugh exposing all my teeth
I will giggle while filling your ears with sobs
Tell me:
Do you even see?
…
An evening of darkness
what do you know of the cold that has frozen my limbs
while I break up the ruins of wardrobes
to feed the fire!
I burnt school books, summer clothes,
and sculls
and the terrible sound of explosions
I no longer care
just like you!
…
Oh life, it is an evening of death
I believe your disbelief
I am enriched by your bankruptcy
And I have risen with your fall
I am the one in the pit
with no brothers
Your wolves ate me and tore the shirts
I am the one oppressed by disappointments and your ugliness, O world
Thank you for the last missile
It relieved the street of a long wailing
Dec. 20, 2023
Clothes washed by the sea
that sea that still holds its blue color in an amazing collusion with life!
Clothes dried by a tired sun
A sun trembling in fear from the explosions
From the cries of hearts that have almost been extinguished!
A sun that has become pale with the disappearance of the color green!
In Gaza now, the color grey is celebrated as the hero
In the endless pictures captured of falling houses on top of bodies,
Roof after roof like burning meteors,
Digging terror into the ground meters deep Altering the meaning of the ground and surface,
The upper floor becomes absolutely terrifying,
The building collapses in all its glory, with empty water tanks and useless satellite dishes!
You wonder where the people went?
Then you are surprised by a spot of blood, a foot or leg, or perhaps by five fingers that managed to survive!
Now you know the answers to the questions,
But you keep on asking!
Hind Joudah is a poet from Al-Breij Refugee Camp, Gaza. She published two collections of poems entitled “Someone always leaves,” and “No sugar in the city.”
we encourage you to publish, print, and distribute the texts by all possible means in support of the Palestinian struggle for liberation.
All rights reserved to the people of Palestine
كل الحقوق محفوظة لأهل فلسطين
All volunteers in this project — coordinators, translators, graphic and web designers — will remain anonymous as a sign of respect and humility towards our people in Gaza. With crediting the authors and without editing, we encourage you to publish, print, and distribute the texts by all possible means in support of the Palestinian struggle for liberation. Any financial income generated from these texts is the property of the people in Gaza and must be directed back to them in full. For questions and further coordination, please contact us.
كل المتطوّعات والمتطوّعين - في الترجمة والتنسيق والتصميم - لا تُذكر أسماءهم كإشارة تواضع وانحناء أمام تضحيات شعبنا في غزّة. بذكر أسم الكاتب\ة ومن دون تعديلات، ندعو لنشر المواد، طباعتها وتوزيعها بكل الطرق الممكنة بهدف مساندة النضال الفلسطيني. كل مدخولٍ ماليّ يُجنى من هذه المواد بأي طريقة كانت هو مال أهل غزّة ويجب إرجاعه كاملًا لأصحابه. للأسئلة والتنسيق، تواصلوا معنا.ااا
Until next time, stay curious, keep questioning, and don’t stop demanding change!
“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.” — Arundhati Roy