Welcome to this series of Gaza Advent blog posts.
Every Sunday during Advent I will post a link to a poem by a leading Palestinian or Gazan poet.
Today’s poem is by the Palestinian poet and photographer Dareen Tatour.
Detaining a Poem, by Dareen Tatour, translated from the Arabic by Andrew Leber.
Dareen Tatour published her poem ‘Resist, My People, Resist Them’, on social media in 2015. She was subsequently arrested by Israeli police and charged with incitement to violence and supporting a terrorist organisation, which she has always denied. She then spent three years under house arrest, during which time she was barred from publishing her work and accessing the internet. After her trial in July 2018, she was handed a five-month prison sentence (with six months suspended), of which she served two months, being released in September 2018. Dareen is the author of I Sing From the Window of Exile (Drunk Muse Press, 2022) and My Threatening Poem – The Memoir of a Poet in Occupation Prisons (Drunk Muse Press, 2021).
I remain indebted to the work of Natalie Jabbar of Live in the Layers, Chris Rose and all the staff of the Amos Trust for inspiring this series of posts. With thanks to Kester Brewin and the Advent 2025 crew.
Photo by Hammam Fuad on Unsplash
Lifesaving Poems 
Thank you so much for this. I like this po
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