top of page
BEFORE THERE IS NOWHERE TO STAND: PALESTINE | ISRAEL: POETS RESPOND TO THE

BEFORE THERE IS NOWHERE TO STAND: PALESTINE | ISRAEL: POETS RESPOND TO THE

$20.00Price

ISBN: 978-0-9839975-8-0

Pub Date: May 2012

Pages: 304


Joan Dobbie and Grace Beeler, with Edward Morin, editors


Responding to the violence of Israel's Operation Cast Lead against Gaza in 2008 - 2009, Joan Dobbie and her niece Grace Beeler, descendants of Holocaust survivors, issued a call for poems by writers of "Palestinian or Jewish heritage . . . for an anthology that strives for understanding . . . in the belief that poetry can create understanding and understanding can dull hatred."


The poems are arranged in seven sections, each dealing with an attribute or phase of the Palestine-Israel struggle. When possible, selections alternate between Jewish and Arab authors, effecting dissonance in subject, emphasis, and attitude—an uneasy multiculturalism.

    The intransigent positions of the perpetually warring and bitter parties in the Middle East since 1945 make it unlikely that any book can adequately represent the pains, passions, and angers of both the Israeli and Palestinian viewpoints, but this anthology represents an impressively wide range of poetic artistry, not just polemic. Much of the work is cathartic, as poetry should be, and therefore a fresh contribution to understanding, compassion, and hope for change. And yet, considering the polarization that feeds seemingly eternal war, the book will predictably enrage those who resent views other than their own. Shakespeare said it best, in Richard II: “O, if you raise this house against this house, / It will the woefullest division prove / That ever fell upon this cursed earth.” Sadly, the poets must raise their voices to be heard above those who not only refuse to listen but silence the voices of others who do. Progress toward peace starts with truth, and there are many truths in Before There Is Nowhere to Stand.

    —David Ray, poet and former editor of New Letters

    Philip Metres  •  Ruth Fogelman  •  Yousef el Qedra  •  Yasmin Snounu  •  Yael Ben-Israel  •  Willa Schneberg  •  Vivien Sansour   • Tom Berman  •  Tawfiq Zayyad  •  Susan Martin  •  Sharon Doubiago  •  Seema V. Atalla  •  Scot Siegel  •  Sandy Polishuk  •  Samuel Hazo  •  Samih al-Qasim  • Sami Al Jundi  • Sam Hamod  • Sabena Stark  • Rochelle Mass  • Rick Black  • Richard Tillinghast  • Richard E. Sherwin  • Reuven Goldfarb  • Reja-e Busailah  • Rachel Corrie  • Rachel Barenblat  • Peter Marcus  • Nizar Qabbani  • Nitza Agam  • Naomi Shihab Nye  • Monica Raymond  • Molly Spencer  • Miriam Stanley   • Mike Maggio  • Merle Feld  • Maryna Ajaja  •  Marjorie Stamm Rosenfeld  •  Marian Haddad  •  Mahmoud Darwish  •  Lahab Assef Al-Jundi  •  Khaled Abdallah  • Judy Kronenfeld  •  Judith A. Brice  • Joy Ladin  •  Johnmichael Simon  •  Jerry Newman  •  J. Weintraub  •  Ingrid Wendt  •  Helen Bar-Lev  •  Hannah Stein  •  Hadassah Haskale  •  Gloria Bletter  • Gavriel Reisner (Ben-Ephraim)  •  Fadwa Tuqan  • Erik Sutter-Kaye  • Ellen Bass  •  Elana Bell  •  Edward Morin  •  Doreen Stock  •  Diab Rabie  •  David Miller  •  David Gershator   •  Dana Negev   •  Dafna Hornike  •  CB Follett  •  Carolyne Wright  •  Carol Alena Aronoff  • Bonnie J. Morris  •  Atar Hadari  •  Alicia Ostriker  •  Aftab Yusuf Shaikh  •  Adonis (Ali Ahmad Said Esber)  •  Adam Schonbrun  •  Ada Aharoni

    bottom of page