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A review by dhiyanah
We Were Seeds: an anthology benefitting Palestine by Chloe Maria Winstanley
challenging
dark
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
‘We Were Seeds’ is a collection of poetry and art protesting the genocide of the Palestinians and the horrors faced daily by Gazans in the times we’re living in. This book is a gathering of voices - of poets, artists, and human beings - determined to keep humanity alive, despite so much lived experience of collective failure. Most importantly, proceeds from this book go to supporting Gazans, a people who ceaselessly strive for life. At the time of this review, two of this collection’s Palestinian contributors are displaced and links to provide mutual aid can be found on Querencia Press’ website.
“Poetry soars above silence, poetry shatters ignorance, poetry flies into the space that is hope and light.” - from the Afterword
What I found most powerful about this collection is the gathering of poets and artists from various parts of the world. Historically, it has taken fervent, disciplined global solidarity and action for us to stand a chance at halting atrocities we know should have never happened in the first place. Capitalistic and colonial greed expect us to look away, to forget, and in doing so, they allow violent cycles to repeat themselves. It is us, civilians and especially the more marganalized of us, who pay the highest price.
Here are people who are sharpening their voices against harm, who believe something else is possible, who are fighting in their own ways, for violent cycles to break. In not looking away from difficult realities, hope and light get their chance at survival. The bridging of voices in solidarity with Palestine here turns into direct action with proceeds going to fundraisers. Here is life, resisting against erasure.
The poetry and art in this collection are fierce, soft, powerful, devastating, and serve to keep our most vulnerable memories alive within wider collectives. They don’t offer catharsis - after all, the catastrophes have yet to ease up - but they do offer space for empathy, grief, and rage to be felt, seen, heard, and gathered. A crucial read for those who believe in the better, braver aspects of humanity.
Thank you to NetGalley and Querencia Press for making this eARC available for reviewing.
“Poetry soars above silence, poetry shatters ignorance, poetry flies into the space that is hope and light.” - from the Afterword
What I found most powerful about this collection is the gathering of poets and artists from various parts of the world. Historically, it has taken fervent, disciplined global solidarity and action for us to stand a chance at halting atrocities we know should have never happened in the first place. Capitalistic and colonial greed expect us to look away, to forget, and in doing so, they allow violent cycles to repeat themselves. It is us, civilians and especially the more marganalized of us, who pay the highest price.
Here are people who are sharpening their voices against harm, who believe something else is possible, who are fighting in their own ways, for violent cycles to break. In not looking away from difficult realities, hope and light get their chance at survival. The bridging of voices in solidarity with Palestine here turns into direct action with proceeds going to fundraisers. Here is life, resisting against erasure.
The poetry and art in this collection are fierce, soft, powerful, devastating, and serve to keep our most vulnerable memories alive within wider collectives. They don’t offer catharsis - after all, the catastrophes have yet to ease up - but they do offer space for empathy, grief, and rage to be felt, seen, heard, and gathered. A crucial read for those who believe in the better, braver aspects of humanity.
Thank you to NetGalley and Querencia Press for making this eARC available for reviewing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and War
Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Child death, Rape, and Blood