Winner of the American Book Award the Palestine Book Award and Arrowsmith Press's 2023 Derek
Walcott Poetry Prize National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry Finalist Written from his
native Gaza Abu Toha's accomplished debut contrasts scenes of political violence with natural
beauty.-The New York Times In this poetry debut Mosab Abu Toha writes about his life under
siege in Gaza first as a child and then as a young father. A survivor of four brutal military
attacks he bears witness to a grinding cycle of destruction and assault and yet his poetry
is inspired by a profound humanity. These poems emerge directly from the experience of growing
up and living in constant lockdown and often under direct attack. Like Gaza itself they are
filled with rubble and the ever-present menace of surveillance drones policing a people
unwelcome in their own land and they are also suffused with the smell of tea roses in bloom
and the view of the sea at sunset. Children are born families continue traditions students
attend university and libraries rise from the ruins as Palestinians go on about their lives
creating beauty and finding new ways to survive. Accompanied by an in-depth interview
(conducted by Ammiel Alcalay) in which Abu Toha discusses life in Gaza his family origins and
how he came to poetry. Praise for Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Mosab Abu Toha is an
astonishingly gifted young poet from Gaza almost a seer with his eloquent lyrical vernacular
... His poems break my heart and awaken it at the same time. I feel I have been waiting for
his work all my life.-Naomi Shihab Nye Though forged in the bleak landscape of Gaza he
conjures a radiance that echoes Milosz and Kabir. These poems are like flowers that grow out of
bomb craters and Mosab Abu Toha is an astonishing talent to celebrate.-Mary Karr Mosab Abu
Toha's Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear arrives with such refreshing clarity and voice
amidst a sea of immobilizing self-consciousness. It is no great feat to say a complicated thing
in a complicated way but here is a poet who says it plain: 'In Gaza some of us cannot
completely die.' Later 'This is how we survived.' It's remarkable. This is poetry of the
highest order.-Kaveh Akbar
