Ayah Victoria McKhail is a Palestinian writer based in Toronto with family in Gaza. Her writing has appeared in The Palestine Chronicle, Mondoweiss, and In the Fray.
Waking Nightmares
How is it that
life carries on,
as they cry for us,
from under the rubble?
While doctors amputate
limbs without anesthesia,
how did we staunch the wounds
of our own throbbing hearts?
The watermelons are rotten
– cut open and bone dry –
From bleeding in the streets
Watered tears, I shudder to imagine
the future of these sad seeds,
what terrible fruit will grow…
One of five poems eloquently written by Yahia Lababidi, which appear in "Unsilenced: Poems for Palestine," the elegiac prose conveys the profound sense of pain felt by the Arab-American poet, essayist and author of "Palestine Wail" (2024).
"This poem emerged out of a terrible sense of helplessness and frustration in response to the horrible and unholy images emerging from Gaza," he said in an interview. "Innocent voices have been calling out to us from beneath the rubble, and the unbearable reality of children being buried alive should torment our conscience."
Lababidi highlights how that disturbing reality has been inescapable. "I felt and feel we're collectively inhabiting an obscene, surreal situation where the natural laws of reason and mercy have been suspended and we're unable to awaken or return to our senses."
In "Unsilenced: Poems for Palestine," the poem intends to capture the overwhelming sense of anguished paralysis and moral bewilderment that has engulfed his experience throughout the genocide in Gaza: "How is life continuing as normal, while unspeakable atrocities are carried out in plain view?"
The images of amputations without anesthesia haunt him, as does the desecrated symbol of Palestinian resistance—the watermelon—now rendered bloodless and hollow. "The final lines, a trembling meditation on seeds and their fruit, speak to the generational trauma being sown in these massacres," he explained.
Reflecting on the abject failure of the international community to hold Israel accountable for its egregious human rights violations and the widespread and enduring implications stemming from them, he raised challenging but powerful questions in the interview: "What kind of futures are being shaped under siege? What scars will these poor Palestinian children carry, and what will they grow into, having known only violence, injustice and betrayal from the world and human family?"
Every poem in "Unsilenced: Poems for Palestine" serves as a testament to each poet's ingrained sense of anguish, embodying a determination to pen their thoughts at a time when others have chosen to look away.
- Ayah Victoria McKhail
Dedicated "to the memory of all those killed in genocides," every entry in "Unsilenced: Poems for Palestine" is a resolute call for justice, evoking the words of Mahmoud Darwish, the late Palestinian poet: "Every beautiful poem is an act of resistance." In the anthology, 51 authors from around the world channel the pain, outrage and grief consuming them into a manifesto for solidarity, spurring people to not only bear witness, but to take action at a time when mass mobilization, courage and defiance are imperative.
John P. Portelli, Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto, compiled the poems for publication amid a growing climate of fear, repression and intimidation sweeping Western societies, as attempts to silence people challenging and protesting the genocide intensify, driven by state apparatuses enabling and complicit in Israel's crimes.
These factors only strengthened Portelli's resolve to forge ahead with his efforts. In an interview, he highlighted the endeavor: "Embarking on this initiative convinced me that writing is a crucial form of activism. In poetry, emotions and reason should coalesce."
That is precisely what makes the anthology powerful, particularly at this critical juncture, with the Palestinian cause at an inflection point. According to Dr. Firoze Manji, the anthology's publisher at Daraja Press, "It's a reflection of the breadth and depth of solidarity by poets across the world, giving space to poets in the thick of the struggles for the liberation of Palestine."
"Unsilenced: Poems for Palestine" builds on the strengths of two other publications Portelli has co-edited since the genocide began: "Il-Ħsad tal-Peprin," another anthology comprising the poems of 41 Maltese poets about Gaza, and "The Shadow: Poems for the Children of Gaza." The latter features works by Portelli and Ahmed Miqdad, a poet in Gaza who also contributed to "Unsilenced: Poems for Palestine."
As Portelli explained, "These are like a trilogy, with the main aim to bring consciousness of the genocide and aggression against Palestinians, which has been going on for a long time."
The poems in his most recent edition touch readers on a visceral level, much like the poetry and writings of acclaimed Palestinian authors Mosab Abu Toha ("Forest of Noise," 2024) and Shadi Salem ("Beneath the Gaza Sky," 2025). Every poem in "Unsilenced: Poems for Palestine" serves as a testament to each poet's ingrained sense of anguish, embodying a determination to pen their thoughts at a time when others have chosen to look away. They speak to the failings of the signatories to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide to honor their legal obligations, enacting decisive measures in the form of arms embargoes and sanctions.
Most importantly, the poems spotlight the international community's refusal to hold Israel accountable, in line with relevant rulings by the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice and in accordance with United Nations resolutions.
Yet when governments fail, people rise. Proceeds from the sale of the anthology are having a tangible effect on the ground in Gaza, with donations allocated for humanitarian purposes.
Utterly harrowing and irrefutably heartbreaking, "Unsilenced: Poems for Palestine" is a hauntingly beautiful reminder of the power of poetry to hold thoughts, to feel and to express what many struggle to put into words. As Lababidi elucidated, "If poetry has any role in such a time, perhaps it is to shudder in the presence of this waking nightmare, yet still speak: to keep the grief human; the suffering seen; the memory alive."
