we are not numbers

emerging writers from Palestine tell their stories and advocate for their human rights

When words can fly

My poems fly to Germany in the form of a book.
Basman Derawi
  • Gaza Strip
  • Diaspora

 

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This month, Swiss company Lenos Verlag published a collection of essays and poems by We Are Not Numbers writers, along with artwork by Gazan Malak Mattar. French newspaper Le Monde wrote, "A group of English-speaking Palestinians, determined to write their frustration, their anger, but also their hopes of the soul.​" Seventeen of my poems are included.

I’m caged in an open-air prison.
But my words have no body;
they can travel with
their invisible wings.

The carefree words of my childhood
bubble up from inside:
‘Yay all the way!’
My laughter is light,
the usual weight in my heart,
gone.

My words have reached Europe,
taking flight in German.
“You have form;
you’re visible,” I tell myself.
“There are still shades of light
in humanity.”
The self who believes in good
wrestles with the pessimist.
This time the good wins.

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