Our Monthly Poetry Collection is published on the first Tuesday of each month and curated by Palestinian-American poet Zeina Azzam. For the month of August, we feature “With the Land,” by Rashid Hussein.  

The Palestinian writer Rashid Hussein was a poet, journalist, teacher, political activist, and translator (from Arabic to Hebrew and vice-versa). He was a fervent Arab nationalist. Hussein was born in 1936 in Musmus, a village near Umm al-Fahm in historic Palestine and was educated in Nazareth. Later he moved to Syria and Lebanon and then the West, notably to New York City as a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Hussein tragically died in an apartment fire in New York in 1977. His funeral in Musmus, where he was buried, was attended by thousands of mourners. 

Rashid Hussein was active in the Land Movement, which supported the self-determination and legitimate rights of Palestinians on their land. This month’s poem by Hussein, titled “With the Land,” epitomizes Palestinians’ deep connection to the land. Indeed, in this poem the land is regarded almost like a person with whom one has a profound rapport. Hussein writes: “…the land comes near me / leaves a stone of love with me… / I will embrace it a thousand times… / I will celebrate its wedding on my forehead….” To him, the land is the ultimate defender of Palestinians, as they defend their right to it. 

Read the complete poem here.

About Zeina Azzam 

Zeina Azzam is a Palestinian American poet, writer, editor, and community activist. Her poems are published widely in literary journals, anthologies, and edited volumes. Zeina’s chapbook, Bayna Bayna, In-Between, was released by The Poetry Box on May 18, 2021. She holds an M.A. in Arabic literature from Georgetown University.