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Things You May Find Hidden In My Ear: Poems from Gaza
Mosab Abu Toha

Mosab Abu Toha is a Palestinian poet, short story writer and essayist from Gaza. He is the author of Things You May Find Hidden In My Ear: Poems from Gaza (2022, City Lights), which won a 2022 Palestine Book Award. 

He is the founder of the Edward Said Library in Gaza City (now destroyed), and from 2019 to 2020, he was a visiting poet and librarian-in-residence at Harvard University. He is currently in Cairo with his family. As with so many Gazan men, he was detained and mistreated by the Israeli Defence force when his family moved to the southern half of Gaza before leaving Gaza. 

Mosab writes,
“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 bombs, rubble and the ever-present menace of surveillance drones policing a people unwelcome in their own land. 

They are also imbued with the smell of tea, roses in bloom, and the view of a sunset over the sea. Children are born, families continue traditions, students attend university and libraries rise from the ruins as Palestinians go about their lives, creating beauty and finding new ways to survive.” 

“These poems are like flowers that grow out of bomb craters, and Mosab Abu Toha is an astonishing talent to celebrate.” Mary Karr — American poet, essayist and memoirist

“Mosa Abu Toha’s Things You May Find Hidden In My Ear arrives with such refreshing clarity of voice — it’s remarkable. This is poetry of the highest order.” Kaveh Akbar — Iranian-American writer