Things You May Find Hidden In My Ear
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From Amazon:
Winner of the American Book Award, the Palestine Book Award and Arrowsmith Press’s 2023 Derek Walcott Poetry Prize
National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry Finalist
“Written from his native Gaza, Abu Toha’s accomplished debut contrasts scenes of political violence with natural beauty.”—The New York Times
In this poetry debut Mosab Abu Toha writes about his life under siege in Gaza, first as a child, and then as a young father. A survivor of four brutal military attacks, he bears witness to a grinding cycle of destruction and assault, and yet, his poetry is inspired by a profound humanity.
These poems emerge directly from the experience of growing up and living in constant lockdown, and often under direct attack. Like Gaza itself, they are filled with rubble and the ever-present menace of surveillance drones policing a people unwelcome in their own land, and they are also suffused with the smell of tea, roses in bloom, and the view of the sea at sunset. Children are born, families continue traditions, students attend university, and libraries rise from the ruins as Palestinians go on about their lives, creating beauty and finding new ways to survive.
Accompanied by an in-depth interview (conducted by Ammiel Alcalay) in which Abu Toha discusses life in Gaza, his family origins, and how he came to poetry.
About Things You May Find Hidden In My Ear
What are those things? What stories lay hidden inside of this collection? Another testimony of Palestine. Abu Toha says in the interview with Ammiel Alcalay that in Gaza he writes almost like a reporter. These poems are then a sound over the radio that pours Palestine into our ears.
The author shows us the important role that the radio, “that old, dirty box that usually vomits blood and body parts into our ears” had in their lives. How it was sometimes the only way for them to know what was happening, how they waited for the names to be announced, how it was letting them know who they lost this time.
In another place, he begs that his ears be gently taken care of. The poem THINGS YOU MAY FIND HIDDEN IN MY EAR is so beautiful and touching. Such gentle addressing of the subject of memories, the auditory recollections of the most important and the most impactful aspects of his life – what to keep, what to get rid of so that the wounds could heal.
Auditory Recollections
This collection is a focal point where Gaza – and Palestine – from different times meet in one place. We meet Abu Toha in childhood and run through his memories, in time, to his fatherhood.
Yaffa is my daughter’s name. I put my ears near her mouth when she speaks, and I hear Yaffa’s sea, waves lapping against the shore. I look in her eyes, and I see my grandparents’ footsteps still imprinted on the sand.
From PALESTINE A-Z, in Things You May Find Hidden In My Ear
Listening to him talk about The Wound, about being injured when he was 16. He said that he wrote that poem in the US, with the time-space distance from the event when he was able to step away and observe the situation. We see the experiences that are different, but also the same for so many Palestinians.
We see that uniquely Palestinian – not experience, but the substance – in the things that weave them together. How an olive tree is not just an olive tree, and the love for the sea is something more than that.
The roots of olive and lemon trees are what ties them so closely to their land. They know that land, its spirit. It is their home, a place they know and recognize in their heart no matter how it changes.
One day, we will be born again when you’re not there.
– from A LITANY FOR “ONE LAND”, in Things You May Find Hidden In My Ear
Because this land knows us. She is our mother.
When we die, we’re just resting in her womb
Creative Decisions
What I noticed through these poems is the often lack of punctuation, something the author himself emphasizes. That creative decision highlighted for me the sense of incompleteness, of no closure. It leaves everything frozen in time. What that also enables is the images and motifs overflowing from one to another in a seamless transition.
Each poem hides a detail around which the whole story unfolds, things like a headless doll that brings forward the breaking of the idyll. It highlights many ruined childhoods or childhoods cut short. Abu Toha himself says he “never exercised his childhood”.
Then again, why focus on ears? Why did all the memories find their place for accumulation in the ear canal? Palestinians learn early on to recognize the sounds of drones, bombs, of F16s coming closer or moving away. But it’s not just those sounds.
It’s also the voices of their dear ones, the song, the prayer, the rustling of the leaves in the crowns of the trees, the sound of the waves. Familiarizing with these sounds makes core memories that stay, to the point of still hearing everything vividly. That makes for the longevity of the experiences described in the collection.
The author acknowledges the importance of literature and writing. He recognizes the role these poems have in the world.
The common idea for a few poems in the collection is building a home in the poetry, constructing the image of Palestine for the world to see, building that space that accepts and gathers all, and then letting those poems have no technical boundaries. I thank the author for having us as guests, welcoming us in to see this image.
We love what we have, no matter how little,
From WE LOVE WHAT WE HAVE, in Things You May Find Hidden In My Ear
because if we don’t, everything will be gone. If we don’t,
we will no longer exist, since there will be nothing here for us.
Postlude
I never know how to conclude these, so allow me to say one thing, and with that, I’ll take my leave. I highly recommend you read this collection. Abu Toha’s voice is so important, so let’s help it be heard.
If you reached this point, thank you! I hope you liked this post, and I’ll see you in the next one, okay?
Okay, thanks, bye!
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My Little Hawk 
Great review. It sounds like a fantastic book. I love poetry, I think sometimes it can be the most powerful means of expression. I’ve been meaning to read more books about Palestine because I recently realised I don’t know much about their history or how it got to the current situation they are facing.
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Thank you! It definitely is, and resistance poetry really opened a new world of expression to me. It’s a wonderful tool!
The Hundred Year’s War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi and Chomsky & Pappé’s On Palestine is where you should start, and then definitely Rifqa and Things You May Find Hidden In My Ear are what I would recommend for poetry because they encapsulate in such a beautiful way all the history, resistance and suffering. There’s obviously much more, both in documents and history, as well as literature and art that tells the story of Palestine. I also intend to read and learn more.
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Thanks for the recommendations, I’ll check those out too. Absolutely, history is more complicated but literature is a good place to start learning.
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You’re welcome! And yes, literature actually has such an important role in teaching, preserving, and enriching, and it’s especially important because it can reach so many people across time and space.
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