#George Abraham

[thenextdoormatilda]

–Palestinian poet and editor of Mizna, George Abraham.

[havingapoemwithyou]

Love Letter to the Eve of the End of the World by George Abraham

[soracities]

Sarah Aziza, in a series of letters with George Abraham (excerpt from Nov. 2023), pub. The Nation [ID'd]

[oldwinesoul]

“In my culture, we know death intimately. In Arabic, the highest expression of love is the phrase

"ya'aburnee" Translated "you bury me" - It means “I love you so much, I'd sooner die than bury you” It was used by mothers in our lineage who were so used to losing their young in war; In my culture, we cannot talk about love without speaking death's name”

// George Abraham, "Untitled," published in Black Napkin Press

[goreprofonde]

It began with a need to be seen. Now you’ve made a garden in the seeing of me. Who Midased the touch golden? Who echoed the body a dis-remembrance? Was it me? From the water’s perspective, Narcissus was a failed experiment in surveillance: gays into me/gaze into me.

- George Abraham, To the Watchlist.

[firstfullmoon]

George Abraham, “ars poetica in which every pronoun is a Free Palestine”

[yourdailyqueer]

George Abraham

Gender: Non binary (they/he)

Sexuality: Queer

DOB: N/A  

Ethnicity: Palestinian

Nationality: American

Occupation: Poet, writer

[librarycards]

For those who engage w/ poetry and poetics in the face of injustice, a new issue of Exceptional Poetry, which I write as associate editor of Frontier Poetry, is out, with some space for Palestinian poetics and other entries related to power, violence, and epistemic in/justice.

[dk-thrive]

the only love worth dying for is a love you can return to

— George Abraham, from "well… *grabs wine glass* when the world ends, i hope we go down dancing ahha!" (Underblong, Summer 2019) (via Read a Little Poetry)

[fiercynn]

palestinian poets: george abraham

george abraham (they/he/هو) is a palestinian american poet, performance arist, and writer who was born and raised on unceded timucuan lands (jacksonville, FL). their debut poetry collection birthright (button poetry) won the arab american book award and the big other book award, and was a lambda literary award finalist. he is also the author of the chapbooks al youm and the specimen's apology. their collaborations include co-editing a palestinian poetry anthology with noor hindi (haymarket books, 2025), and a performance art project titled EVE with fargo nissim tbakhi. 

they are a recipient of fellowships from kundiman, the arab american national museum, the boston foundation, the national performance network, and the MAP fund, and more. their writing has appeared in poetry magazine, the nation, the american poetry review, guernica, the baffler, the paris review, mizna, and many other journals and anthologies. a graduate of swarthmore college and harvard university, they have taught at emerson college, and are currently a litowitz MFA+MA candidate in poetry at northwestern university. he is also currently executive editor of the whiting award-winning journal mizna.

you can follow them on twitter @IntifadaBatata.

IF YOU READ JUST ONE POEM BY GEORGE ABRAHAM, MAKE IT THIS ONE

OTHER POEMS ONLINE THAT I LOVE BY GEORGE ABRAHAM

Field Notes on Terror & Beginnings at poetry daily

Love Letter to the Eve of the End of the World at the margins

Of Nation, at rusted radishes: beirut literary and art journal

Searching for a Palestinian After at the nation

Stage Directions for a Representation in which Eve and Adam travel through their first checkpoint at mosaic theatre company

the ghosts of the dead sea are rising at the drift

ars poetica in which every pronoun is FREE PALESTINE at the margins

“from UNIVERSAL THEORY IN WHICH EVERY FAILED ATTEMPT AT LOVE IS A SOULMATE FROM AN ALTERNATE TIMELINE” at fiyah literary magazine

Ode to My Swollen, Mono-Infected Spleen at brooklyn poets

The Olive Tree Speaks of Deforestation to my body at crabfat magazine

arab/queer vs. Imaginary at shade literary arts

self-portrait with second-degree sunburn at

[ summer / winter ] is the worst time to lose a [ country / lover ] at wildness

maqam of moonlight, for the wandering at the rumpus

against perturbation at the scores

apology, at cordite poetry review

i also adore this 2021 essay of abraham's at guernica magazine called teaching poetry in the palestinian apocalypse: towards a collective, lyric "i".

[edwordsmyth]

"Peace on this earth is not for us, not for Gaza when it rejoices in the spring like children, not for Akka, awake for a thousand years, guarding us like our grandmothers, not for the beautiful Jaffa, not for Jesus who rose from our blood, then from our flesh, then from our land and our endless resurrections. Peace on this earth is not for us, not for your holy Jerusalem, O God, ascending with your Prophet and our Quran."

[thenextdoormatilda]

From "Taking Back Jerusalem" by Palestinian Poet, George Abraham

[havingapoemwithyou]

Searching for a Palestinian After by George Abraham

“The past is a future we return to” —Fargo Tbakhi

[soracities]

Sarah Aziza, in a series of letters with George Abraham (excerpt from Nov. 2023), pub. The Nation [ID'd]

[imaginemirage]

In my culture, we know death intimately. In Arabic, the highest expression of love is the phrase "ya'aburnee". Translated, "you bury me" - It means "I love you so much, I'd sooner die than bury you." It was used by mothers in our lineage who were so used to losing their young in war; In my culture, we cannot talk about love without speaking death's name.

George Abraham

[goreprofonde]

The ars poetica is where my body feels most at stake, I say, while running from a poem about ] [ But does there even exist a poem where my body has ever not been at stake?

- George Abraham, To the Watchlist.