Event Type
The war between Israel and Gaza prompted strong and passionate responses all over the world as it rightly should have--and within the U.S. literary world as well. But often even poets have fallen into rhetoric. What does poetry have to say for itself? Can poetry have the floor? Can poems create a space to prompt heartfelt honest and painful dialogue instead of two or three word slogans? As poets we listen to a voice within us which is complex, full of feeling, and capable of holding more ideas than one at the same time. We will present poems of our own that touch on the current situation, as well as poems by contemporary poets translated from Arabic and Hebrew, and will respond to one another's presentations thoughtfully. Our hope is to model the possibility of a dialogue through poetry even in a time when it is so difficult to speak from the heart.