What the World’s Silence Says

Poet Yahya Ashour sits on Benson Auditorium's stage with professor Brent Armendinger — Professor Brent Armendinger and Visiting Professor Yahya Ashour during a fall poetry event at Benson Auditorium.

Exiled Gazan poet Yahya Ashour almost doesn’t recognize himself in his poetry from a few years ago. His voice and style are continuously changing. That’s also true of his readings; he often changes his poetry in real time, skipping lines and poems.

He did this during a reading in November at Pitzer, where he is teaching as a visiting faculty member this spring. Ashour shifts and molds his writing at every opportunity, seeking to do the impossible task of describing life in Gaza. Ashour recently published the e-book A Gaza of Siege & Genocide, and the proceeds assist Ashour’s family in escaping the dire situation in Gaza.

“I hope that [my poems] serve as a testimony of what has been happening in Gaza and what has been happening for years,” he said.

Ashour’s residency is part of a College initiative to welcome Palestinian faculty to teach courses. Jamal Al-Shareef, a sociolinguist from Gaza, also taught classes this spring as a visiting professor.

For more on Ashour’s book of poems, see the community bookshelf feature.