About this anthology
From the beginning, tatreez emerged from the core of this anthology. Its initial stitch pierced the fabric of each poem read. Its rich history of creation in response to destruction, of stitching together separate motifs to tell a story in symbols, parallels the explosion of poetry we have received since October 2023.
These poems and illustrations collectively form patterns of return. Although individual threads, when woven together, they become a living story of exile and longing to go back. The pen leaves the page the way a body leaves the land, or a needle leaves cloth. The pen returns to the page the way a soul does, a thread does. There is no leaving without eventually returning.
The anthology represents diverse voices that encompass the breadth and reach of solidarity with Palestine. There is not only suffering. There is beauty, anger, grief, love, humour and triumphant, defiant hope.
