In Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza, the sensational young Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha deftly harnesses the raw power of words and imagery to expose the cruel and often absurd realities of sustaining life in a city under siege. Abu Toha, who reflects on his family's prolonged statelessness, is a literary warrior for whom crafting poetry is an act of resistance against the occupying power.
Poems, such as "Palestine A-Z," chronicle the contradictions inherent in the poet's daily existence, in which beauty, hope and destruction coexist, and the simple act of making tea can take a bizarre turn when the stove is destroyed by a missile attack ("Olympic Hopscotch Leap"). In the title poem, he asks the doctor treating his wounds to remove the buzzing of drones from his damaged ear, while preserving the sound of his mother's voice, birdsong and his favorite poetry. A soulful longing to meet his late grandfather and visit the family's ancestral home, a place that no longer exists, infuses much of Abu Toha's work.
Born in a refugee camp like his father before him, Abu Toha has devoted his career to the written word and is the founder of an English-language library in Gaza, the first of its kind. His debut poetry collection offers emotionally frank vignettes as well as an extended interview conducted by Ammiel Alcalay. The poetry cracks open a window to the stark realities of life for Gaza's struggling residents, with Abu Toha serving as a gentle yet insistent messenger who whispers: look, see our wounds, they are real. --Shahina Piyarali, reviewer