This blog is a big thank you to all of the overwhelming support for the poetry volume, Every Day and Every Land: Poems on the Tragedy of Karbala. Find more details on where to find it and where profits go to below.
I wanted to share one of the poems that I contributed to this volume alongside Narjis Khan and Zainab Ali. This particular poem, ‘Qasim of the Intifada’, was written upon hearing of the murder of children in Palestine by Zionist forces in 2011. I revised it last year for obvious reasons.
QASIM OF THE INTIFADA
I am crushed under the hooves of an Israeli tank;
Shot from afar
for throwing a stone.
I am every child riddled with bullets
slain going to school.
I am dust under a bunker buster,
my shadow lies
where the bombs fell.
I lay in blood at the side
of a checkpoint,
my father crying,
alone
Tonight,
they came again,
burned me in my tent
Aflame, I cannot rise.
My name is recorded everywhere in tears
each year you cry.
Today my name is Mahmoud Abu Samra
and I am Malik Shath.
I am Faris Oudeh,
I am Iman Hams,
Aoun and Asghar,
and Mohammed Al-Durra.
I am Qasim of the Intifada
Remember me and
Learn my names.
Cry tears of sorrow
And rejoice,
For I died
in Karbala today.
January 2011 revised July 2025
Profits from Every Day and Every Land: Poems in the Tragedy of Ashura.
The publisher’s website is still not up and running but they can be contacted for bulk orders at trade discounts (more than 5) on info@amiralipublishinghouse.
Whether via purchases of this volume, or directly to the funds above, please consider donating to these worthy causes, which are often helping the families of shuhadah and other victims of state oppression, with education and living costs.
Arzu is a writer and researcher based in London, UK.
Image: ‘What Hussain did.’ (c) Mohammed Hamza / Intifada Street. Limited editions available here.
