Am I a Survivor?
Full of the readiness for spring after a long winter, this collection of eight poems yearns for fresh seasons of the soul, unmarked by suffering and desolation. A tender work for the rebirth of souls, beautifully composed and illustrated.
Poem titles:
“A Rocket Ended My Life”
“Between Light, Loss, and Memories”
“Born Again”
“Burning Soul”
“Drowning Body, Burning Heart”
“Flight to Paradise: Between Darkness and Light”
“To My Mother”
Letter to the reader
Dear Reader,
I am writing this letter to you after a journey of displacement that has lasted nearly a month. For a month and a half, I lived in a makeshift tent, my heart filled with longing and nostalgia for my destroyed home. In that tent, I wrote more than I ever had before.
I’m honored you are reading my words, as I had thought the world blind, and that you are listening to my marginalized voice, as I had believed our world deaf. I try to escape this painful reality through my writing. Perhaps, I have found salvation through writing, and perhaps, you are now escaping this disturbing reality by reading our words. Lately, I have been wondering what it feels like to sip coffee in peace, read your favorite book, and sit on your balcony with birds chirping nearby….
I would like to experience that feeling, and perhaps, you are experiencing it now. Tell me, what does it feel like?
I believe the genocide in Gaza has produced a new generation of writers, and that writing is our path to salvation and an escape into our dreams. I write every day to loosen the suffocation of my soul, in the hopes of one day finding peace.
There are no words to express my gratitude to you for choosing to read my zine, and I hope we can have a cup of coffee together one day as we gaze at the same sky, the same moon, and annoy others with our endless chatter and rants about the world around us….
I won’t talk any longer; I’ll leave you now to read my words and fly away to another world full of poetry and stories that I’ve lived through and events that I’ll never forget.
I wish you all the best,
Menna Saber Abo Salem
Sample Illustration and Text
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