Summary
Palestinian poet of the remnant community inside Israel whose poem Baqun (We Shall Remain), quoted in The Question of Palestine, expresses Palestinian consciousness as sheer staying on the land. His work is poetry.
Details
- Zayyad is presented by Said as a member of the remnant community inside Israel; his “Baqun” (“We Shall Remain”) is one of the most striking poems written by a member of that community, its language of sheer, bone-basic staying-on meant to remind Israelis that Palestinians are like “glass and the cactus / In your throats” (The Question of Palestine, PDF p.151 / printed p.130) (poetry).
- In the poem as quoted by Said (poetry), Zayyad sees his indignities — washing dishes in hotels, serving drinks to the masters — as ennobling him because here we have a past, a present and a future, our roots entrenched deep in the earth: “Like twenty impossibles / We shall remain” (The Question of Palestine, PDF p.151 / printed p.130).