Remi Kanazi - Poets for Palestine book is released
By Mary Rizzo • May 21st, 2008 at 8:00 • Category: Artwork, Culture and Heritage, Features, Ideas and Projects, Music, Poetry, Events, Palestine, Somoud: Arab Voices of Resistance
Illustration by Nasri Zacharia, Day of the Martyr
Palestinian Identity - By Remi Kanazi
I was born overseas
A refugee
With little knowledge of myself or my ancestry
Growing up in American society
I conformed to the mentality
I watched MTV
Envied actors and people who drove Mercedes
I didn’t listen to Public Enemy or read Edward Said
Comprehend the need for autonomy
I was a dark kid, trying to be a white kid, acting like a black kid
In my middle-class economy
But my mom didn’t speak this language perfectly
And I was reminded with certainty
My name wasn’t Ali or Punjabi MC
Not Khalid, Rashid, or anyone from Aladdin’s family
I was just me
Poets For Palestine, a collection of poetry I’ve been editing for the last two years, is finally coming out!
This is the first anthology to bring together poetry, hip hop, spoken word, and art to pay tribute to Palestine; included are: Mahmoud Darwish, Amiri Baraka, Suheir Hammad, Patricia Smith, Naomi Shihab Nye, D. H. Melhem, Nathalie Handal, E. Ethelbert Miller, Tahani Salah, Ragtop from the Philistines, the N.O.M.A.D.S., Fawzia Afzal Khan, Annemarie Jacir, Ibtisam Barakat, Kathy Engel, Junichi P. Semitsu, Melissa Hotchkiss, Alicia Ostriker, Marilyn Hacker and many more!
Commemorating the 60th anniversary of the dispossession of the Palestinian people, this collection presents 48 poems and includes 31 powerful images created by Palestinian artists. As important, this anthology features a array of ethnically diverse voices who use their words to elevate the consciousness of humanity.
All the proceeds from the book will go toward funding future cultural projects that highlight Arab artistry in the US.
Remi Kanazi
Mary Rizzo is an art restorer, translator and writer living in Italy. Editor and co-founder of Palestine Think Tank, co-founder of Tlaxcala translations collective. Her personal blog is Peacepalestine.
Email this author | All posts by Mary Rizzo
