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The Palestinian poet, writer, literature professor, and activist Dr. Refaat Alareer was killed today in a targeted Israeli airstrike that also killed his brother, his sister, and four of her children. He is survived by his wife, Nusayba, and their children. Dr. Alareer was a beloved professor of literature and creative writing at the Islamic University of Gaza, where he taught since 2007. Dr. Alareer was also one of the founders of We Are Not Numbers, a nonprofit organization launched in Gaza after Israel’s 2014 attack and dedicated to creating “a new generation of Palestinian writers and thinkers who can bring together a profound change to the Palestinian cause.” —Literary Hub, December 7, 2023 |
Human beings, witnessing
Gaza children in open
grave sites wrapped
in blue body bags
wading towards
the afterlife, they are
human beings, not
numbers, so many
murdered
by too many
explosions, bombs, missiles
aiming more than war
heads, occupied brutality
ignores Children unarmed, head
lines bury #Gazaholocaust
—although you can not
see the waves of these
limbs wrapped in blue,
the tears from their families,
from neighbors, flow from
across the globe, they are
not numbers, nor war casualties,
they are human beings
wrapped in genocide
rubble of destruction, no
more detonations,
we demand
—Palestine free
Too many numbers,
no more human
beings overflowing
death
—from this
grave devastation.
Editor’s note: This poem, inspired by "They are not numbers, They are human beings," a December 4 X/tweet by @malwikadevi, was submitted to us a day before the death of Refaat Alareer, a founder of We Are Not Numbers.
Adrian Ernesto Cepeda is the author of Flashes & Verses… Becoming Attractions from Unsolicited Press, Between the Spine from Picture Show Press, Speaking con su Sombra with Alegría Publishing, La Belle Ajar & We Are the Ones Possessed from CLASH Books and his 6th poetry collection La Lengua Inside Me with FlowerSong Press. Adrian lives with his wife in Los Angeles with their adorably spoiled cat Woody Gold.