It has been a matter of debate in the academic circle whether poetry is a tool or an art form having a limited followership. While lawyers of the progressive pen’s movement believe poetry is “art for life”, the lawyers of classical poetry still believe that it is “art for art”.
The movement of progressive writers is important because it not only addresses literature and its connection with millions but virtually demonstrates how poetry is a tool against fascism. Poetry is an erudite attestation of data prevailing in fascist governance. World poetry is full of exemplifications of similar runes. While Gaza is under attack, the question that whether poetry should be used as substantiation of data or it should be confined to its classical description of imaginary display becomes more important.
In the present geopolitical background, the meaning of poetry needs further explanation and understanding because a genocide is going on and artists, like others, are just observers as they suppose poetry isn’t a review.
Let us go back to the period of the 1930s. An international conference of progressive writers was held in Paris, which later took the shape of the progressive pen movement. That was the first time when a strong voice on transnational position was raised to impact pens to use their words for millions and their struggles in fascist governance just like a group of muses and pens who had already been using poetry as resistance.
Now, in the present times, this question again needs attention. In reply, however, I don’t find any applicable description but the one offered by Iranian-American poet Solmaz Sharif at a talk hosted by Washington University in St Louis. “Poetry is not an exercise in aesthetic pleasure. It is an opportunity to name, diagnose, and draw attention to actual outbreaks of violence that are occurring,” said Sharif. Considering the definition of Sharif, we can understand that for a poet, it is necessary to work as a historian and a reporter within the confined boundaries of literature.
Palestinian American writer, editor, and human rights advocate, Priscilla Wathington, said in an online conversation in December 2023: “If you are a poet of conscience in this moment of genocide, this question must come up. Poetry is not a life-saving surgery. No matter how much we may repeat the metaphor, poetry is not water. It cannot write the bombs out of the sky. It cannot put back together the bodies of a loved one, or build a safe place for even a mouse to sleep in Gaza.
“But this is not to say that poetry or words in general are useless in a time of genocide. If words had no power to influence people’s feelings about the bombing of hospitals or the military detention of children, then Israeli forces would not be arresting poets and other writers. And more broadly, if books could not shift attitudes and open up new ways of seeing the world, then there would not be so many banned books. As much as poetry cannot be a replacement for other forms of action, such as calling our Congressional members here in the US, it can and should be an extension of our overall decolonial belief practices and commitments.”
In the nation’s political terrain, Palestinian literature is pivotal. In this light, the anthology may be brazened with a variety of problems, similar to what part does the political issue, history as time, affect the conformation of erudite form and contents that will convert the heritage of loss and confiscation into creative openings? How does resistance overload itself? What erudite inventions does the unique idea indicate? How may someone or a group of people creatively transcend history as a report and transcend history as fabulous creative literature? The last issue to consider is the connections between erudite workshop, political reality, and fabrication.
Writers of resistance literature from the Palestinian setting discuss the predicament of their people and the loss of their land. It discusses the reality of the horrible experience of colonised people surviving in a region that is under occupation. Authors from Palestine like Ghassan Kanafani, Adonis, Khalil Gibran, and Samih-al-Qasim symbolise the Palestinian peoples’ experiences, their identity loss, and the area that the Zionists have taken over. One of them, Mahmood Darwish, decided to write about his homeland and individuals.
Ghassan Kanafani, a prominent Palestinian author and politician, describes the journey of Palestinian poetry and the development of resistance poetry in his book ‘Poetry of Resistance in Occupied Palestine’. He writes: “After 1948, Palestinian literature succeeded in laying the foundations of a new literary movement which may be better described as the literature of exile rather than Palestinian or refugee literature. Poetry, the chief element of this movement, has been able to witness remarkable progress in quality and technique in recent years.”
The short period of silence after the 1948 war was followed by a great awakening, and national poetry poured out reflecting peoples’ national fervor. It interacted with Arab and foreign literary trends and gradually broke the traditional rules of technique, rejected the old sentimental outbursts, and “emerged with a unique feeling of profound sadness more commensurate with the realities of the situation”.
After 1948, poetry, which Kanafani refers as “poetry of exile”, produced love poems, which was an outcome of loneliness and deprivation. After this phase, life in exile found nothing in loneliness. Then, the feelings of resistance and losing lives, and fighting with the ferocious enemy became common. This resistance poetry was completely different from the poetry of exile because there was no sadness and tears. The love for women was completely integrated with the love for the homeland. Women and earth were completely assimilated in one great love and transformed into the great cause of liberation.
I am a stranger Safad
And you too,
The Houses greet me
But their dwellers Order me to go away
Why are you roaming through the streets, Arab,
Why?
If you say hello
Nobody would answer you
Your relatives had been here
Then went away
And nobody stayed
A funeral of a morning
Sits on my lips
And in my eyes
There sits a lion’s humiliation
Farwell
Farwell Safad!
(Safad—Salem Jubran)
In this poem, Jubran portrays the pain of being homeless in your homeland, and the humiliation at your very own home. This is the day-to-day pain of a Palestinian in an Israeli-occupied land. Being homeless in your land and seeing your relatives leaving for their safety is something very common for a Palestinian but hard for the rest of the world as they haven’t faced anything like this ever. The role of a poet here is to record this mishappening, document it as evidence for the world, and encourage them to see and to speak about it, loudly and unapologetically.
Lord, glory of the universes
On your Birthday this year
All the joys of Jerusalem are crucified
All the bells, O Lord
Are silent!
For two thousand years,
They haven’t been silent on your birthdays,
Except this year
The domes are now in mourning
Black is wrapped in black
On the Via Dolorosa,
Jerusalem is whipped
Under the cross
Bleeding
On the hands of the executioner.
The world is adamant to the tragedy
The light has departed from that lost ruthless master
Who did not light one candle
Who did not shed one tear
To wash the sorrows of Jerusalem
The vinedressers have killed the heir, O Lord,
And usurped the vine
The vinedressers killed the heir, my Lord
The bird of sin has feathered
Within the sinners of the world
And flew to desecrate Jerusalem’s chastity
What a cursed devil he is,
Even hated by the Devil.
O Lord, glory of Jerusalem
Out of the well of agony
Out of the abyss
Out of the recesses of night
Out of the horror
Jerusalem’s groaning ascends to you
Mercy, lord
Spare her this chalice!
(To Christ on His Birthday—Fadwa Tuqan)
If Tuqan hadn’t composed this poem, what proof would a lay reader have that he or she is not from Palestine? Poetry has a crucial role in any resistance moment, but historical records do not, because people forget if episodes in fascist states have ever occurred.
History is not a matter of the masses. Poetry not only documents facts but also interprets them in a way that appeals to the general public. This connection to the general public helps poets become more perceptive and thoughtful. Poets ought to write about what they observe rather than living in a fantasy world, cut off from reality.
Poets need to wake up and realise their responsibilities towards resistance and poetry’s relationship to it in light of the current political climate and the rise of fascism throughout the world. Why Palestine, of all places, must be the starting point for our awakening? Other than Palestine, what else! Injustice is getting closer to our doors, so it is imperative that we begin writing about it now. Nobody will write for you if you won’t write for them.
A very important poem regarding Palestine, exile, and its resistance is ‘Without a Passport’ by Rashid Hussein. In this poem, you can feel the agony of losing an existence, fighting to get it back, and dying without getting it with the hope of getting it back.
I was born without a passport
I grew up
and saw my country
become prisons
without a passport
So I raised a country
a sun
and wheat
in every house
I tended to the trees therein
I learned how to write poetry
to make the people of my village happy
without a passport
I learned that he whose land is stolen
does not like the rain
If he were ever to return to it, he will
without a passport
But I am tired of minds
that have become hotels
for wishes that never give birth
except with a passport
Without a passport
I came to you
and revolted against you
so slaughter me
perhaps I will then feel that I am dying
without a passport
These few poems are crucial to comprehending the Palestinian people’s struggle and mentality. Such poetry stirs our consciousness and serves as proof against injustice. Poems such as these ought to be written in every language, in every place, and in every fascist state. Instead of remaining silent in the hopes of receiving an honour, recognition, or other advantages, poets need to realise the value of poetry and how to utilise it to combat injustice.
