Photo credits: Amy Amilia
His session with us was a powerful one. He brought us to Gaza with his words, paint mental images of the chaos in Gaza: how the boarders of Gaza is surrounded by Israeli soldiers; how they couldn't export nor import; how the fishermen couldn't go further than three miles in the sea for there, Israeli soldiers are guarding too; and, how it took him a month to get out of Gaza to come to Malaysia. He then told us the resilience of the Gazans/Palestinians: how despite being oppressed, they spring back almost immediately, continue living life.
"Poetry: the only way of defending and resisting the presence of oppression."Palestinian poets who wrote in Arabic:
- Mahmoud Darwish
- Tamim Bargouti
Mahmoud Darwish, deceased, was the father of modern Palestinian poetry. Tamim Bargouti, son of a Palestinian father and an Egyptian mother, was a wonderful poet who inspired many and revolutionized how people think. According to Mr. Alareer, Tamim was "young and cute", so everyone like him. However, our speaker favoured Tamim for his originality in imagery and metaphors.
Palestinian poets who wrote in English:
- Rafeef Ziadah (We Teach Life, Sir)
- Susan Abulhawa (Wala!)
- Rami Kanazi
"More young poets write in English than in Arabic now"
Compared to their native language, Arabic, English is a more and the most accessible language. Work in the native isn't as influential and it would be in English. Poems in English transcends the boarders of Arabic. Other than expressing, they aim to expose the unjust, to remember and tell their stories, and most importantly, the readers are able to see the poets as they are through the writings. What frustrates Mr. Alareer the most was not only meaning might get lost in translation, but to be represented by a translator or a mediator "can never be the same".
"...believed I will never be able to swim, to drive a car, and to write..."
How it all started:
Mr. Alareer wanted to start a blog after the war. He wanted to see how the past and future relates and connects.
Ironically, a lecturer of English in a university in Palestine, he believed he will never be able to write. His encouragement was from his students, who initially sent him creative works of their own. He started to see the "amazing stuffs" they produced and learned from them. Here, they broke the traditional teacher-student relationship. This became a two way learning, and he starts to follow his own advice: "get rid of this opinion that you can't write!"
His advice:
- read a lot of good and high quality poetry
- believe that you can write good stuffs
- have the will to do so
- scribble your thoughts. Always
- imitate
- be yourself
"To read poetry, you first have to like poetry"
Mr. Alareer personally like the Romantic poetry: the easy way around their words, the techniques used.
"To write, you have to make long term goals"
He gave an example of a book published by Bill Clinton entitled "My Life", where in the prologue Bill Clinton talked about long term goals and this was his: "I wanted to be a good man...and write a great book". These was listed by Bill Clinton when he "was a young man just out of law school". To Bill Clinton, being a good man was "for God to judge" but to write a great book, it takes time.
Mr Alareer showed us the significance of making these long term goals. Long term goals is "a decision and then you take it from there." A book isn't produced overnight but it take years to cultivate the skills. For example, noticing is a skill developed with time. The descriptions of people/characters J.K. Rowling used in her Harry Potter series depended on her noticing.
"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default." - J.K. Rowling
Mr Alareer moved on to tells us the importance of failure, backed up with a quote from the author if the Harry Potter books, J.K. Rowling. We should not be discouraged by failures or rejections we receive.
"If learning or education is a prey, you should keep it in a cage."
He then prompted us to start writing: "the worst about writing is that it needs writing". He urged us to scribble down every idea, to note, to freewrite. In this modern age, our mobile phones could be used too. He said this as if he couldn't stress on it enough.
"Imitating is the first step, but somewhere, you have to stop imitating and be yourself."
He told us of his humble beginnings in the journey of writing, (refer to point 1) and how important imitation can be and at a point, we just have to stop imitating and be true, be ourselves.
What is in my poetry?
- dialogue
- performance/drama
- Palestine
These three are the elements that are always in his poetry. Element of dialogues, although he didn't intentionally create them, it just happened. His idea was that his poems can be recited solo or two way, making it into a performance. Palestine, the reason why he started writing.
Mr. Alareer then recited some of his poems, while pausing to highlight the important points and teaching us the basics of poetry: punctuation, tense, and verb change and the implications of these. Despite his many pauses to coach, the emotions were heartfelt.
Mr Alareer explains how young poets rise up to publish their writings not only in English, but on social media. They are hoping to raise global awareness via social media. He then encouraged us to write/blog.
Q&As:
Ayuni: Who are your favourite poets and why?
Mr Alareer: John Donne. The depth, layers and play with words and structure.
T.S. Eliot. Romantic poets.
Maya: What was the style of poetry in Gaza before the war?
Mr Alareer: Before the war, it was mostly personal. Personal poetry was and is still there, but after the war, more time and effort war for Palestine war writing. It became more intense and "evolved" after the war.
Azze:
Mr Alareer: Bring a writer means being able to be everyone else. You don't have to be the person and have first hand experience. Living in that society. You don't have to be a mom to write about mothers. You can read and see from people around.
Significance of olives.
Olive and olive oil symbolise Palestine in culture. Olive is used to cure diseases and sicknesses. Olive trees symbolise the connection and interaction of man and land.
"Resistance is creative; occupation is boring."
The Palestinian resilience shows creation. They never give up and keep going back.
'5 Broken Cameras' a film by Emad documenting the resistance and determination of the Palestinians. To the Palestinians, "forgetting is a crime", they are there, they need to tell the story.
"Writing: an important tool of resistance."
Get Refaat Alareer at thisisgaza.wordpress.com
