What do you think?
Rate this book
Birthright
Birthright is a book that balances the weight of place. The pride and shame and worth of homeland. Palestine, a homeland under siege and under scrutiny from a world that doesn't occupy its borders. It is a book of immense nuance, pulling together all corners of the author's pride in home, but also a desire to understand the violent cycles of the American machinery of war.
127 pages, Paperback
First published April 7, 2020
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
January 20, 2021
The poetry collection has three sections. The first section talks about the author's origin, place and his people; gay people and the issues related; his heritage and home.
The second section talks about the birthright and political issues. The third section talks about adaptation being faced everything about being someone who's come out of the closet and being survived in a place of political unrest. This collection is rather too heavy, deep and personal. I loved the random short stories in between more. The writing is incredible, strong and left an impact.
I totally appreciate the way the lines are written. This collection is going to stay.
Thank you #NetGalley for the book #Birthright
The second section talks about the birthright and political issues. The third section talks about adaptation being faced everything about being someone who's come out of the closet and being survived in a place of political unrest. This collection is rather too heavy, deep and personal. I loved the random short stories in between more. The writing is incredible, strong and left an impact.
I totally appreciate the way the lines are written. This collection is going to stay.
Thank you #NetGalley for the book #Birthright
March 14, 2020
In George Abraham’s Birthright, erasure is cleverly appropriated and brandished by the erased. As a non-binary, queer, Palestinian-American poet, Abraham seeks not to speak the ineffable word which no language contains, but to be enveloped by the wordless space where all of the dimensions of their identities can coexist paradoxically. Constructed as a modern art exhibit, this collection coils the chilling parallels of past and present, oppressor and oppressed, and redaction and reality into formidable helices. The negative spaces of the annihilated are transposed with the duplicities of the visible subject—an artistic rendering of colonization employed by the colonized:
i contour my face with sand & it is war paint. i puncture my
nostril with steel & that is war crime. a hamsa dangles from my
earlobe & the room empties itself
& here i am. is this what you mean by arab witchcraft? that you could
mistake this skin for anything but mine—& isn’t that the perfect
[ ]? the Queerest [ ]? tell me you didn’t mistake me for the
slowest lullaby & i'll say: i have so many bodies in me—if you look
close enough,
you could almost mistake me for a massacre.
Utilizing experimental forms, Birthright explores what it means to come from a country that does not exist, to be subjugated by a state that wouldn’t exist today had it not been for the land your ancestors called home, and to grow up “giving thanks” in a country that erased its indigenous inhabitants in much the same way. Comparing two countries in different phases of Manifest Destiny, Abraham reveals the unsettling truth that much of the world continues to ignore—that troublesome colonialist mindsets never ceased and the world’s institutions continue to placate the systemically xenophobic; that long after territorial and emotional superposition, the conquerors will continue to whitewash the conquered they wiped off the face of the map; and that conquering, effectively, never concludes but merely transforms. Sifting through the rubble of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, we bear witness, in real-time, as Palestinian history is being leveled to make way for settlers who continuously seize and misappropriate the tatters of a once-vibrant culture, eroding not only the land itself but the ancestral home of countless descendants:
& to that land unearthed, troubled yet fallow,
I sing praise to your rewritten & eroded topography –
To hands that plow & seed a forgotten history,
I sing praise to your calloused & unwounded exterior –
To soil that cradles everything, even in betrayal,
I sing praise to the weight you swallow & inhabit –
I know somewhere, the land sings love to its people
the way street cat howls to moonlight
in lonesome gaze; somewhere, I kiss the Mediterranean
& no one drowns at the intersection of salt & fury;
somewhere, a patient God holds the universe
with our tiny bodies, ravaging in his arms;
somewhere, our children wake up & become music
like dabke was just another word for morning prayer
Common motifs found throughout the collection are parallels, mirrors, memory, fire, bodies, roots, and invisibility. Biological concepts such as cell migration, overgrowth, and inheritance are wielded by the dispossessed to show the underhandedness of the modern world’s take on imperialism, where human rights and tolerance are touted as basic virtues but various ethnic groups are still marginalized, dehumanized, and massacred. Central to the work is the division between the material world and the intangible world—how the pliability of borders betrays the concept of home, how the body betrays the mind, and how clemency betrays the persecuted:
You begin again, not searching for a center, & from the ash
& soot, a temple. From the temple, empire. From empire,
fire. From fire, multiverse, wingspan, soundless death. There is
a you, you cannot find, outside of you dreaming all of this.
You cannot take root. It’s springtime, & what can you do but look into
eternity’s face & reject it. This is your loneliest sound. You
step into the light, & Forgiveness is a daffodil in a wooded clearing.
You palm the daffodil, inhale it; allow Forgiveness to enter
& your throat ruptures.
George Abraham’s Birthright offers a stirring glimpse of the traumas carried in our blood that generate ripples across space and time. In turns wondrously eloquent and refreshingly acerbic, Birthright swiftly challenges the narrative often spun by the media, craven nations, and their loyal disciples. An installation of fervent subversion, Abraham’s collection embodies a small reclamation of all that has been lost by the voiceless people of Palestine and the LGBT community, allowing the disaffected to redefine and re-border their stolen selves.
March 31, 2020
transcendent. the reason that i Read poetry.
Read
October 25, 2021Extremely appreciated this debut poetry collection. I finished reading it a while ago, but I'm intending to make a Twitter thread about it, so I've been putting off posting about it on Goodreads. (But I'm getting confused about which books I want to post about, so I'm rethinking this strategy.)
As much as it is possible to *finish* reading it - this book is fundamentally nonlinear. And also features a few entirely new poetic forms created by the author. Go check it out, and I'll link my thread here with more information / commentary once I've made it (soon, G-d willing).
_____
Source of the book: Lawrence Public Library (who ordered it on my request, thank you so much!) but I'll probably buy my own copy too because I have trouble parting with it.
As much as it is possible to *finish* reading it - this book is fundamentally nonlinear. And also features a few entirely new poetic forms created by the author. Go check it out, and I'll link my thread here with more information / commentary once I've made it (soon, G-d willing).
_____
Source of the book: Lawrence Public Library (who ordered it on my request, thank you so much!) but I'll probably buy my own copy too because I have trouble parting with it.
April 19, 2020
I'm going to think about this book for a long time - maybe forever.
June 23, 2020
This collection is brilliant, and I was constantly blown away as I read it.
Read
July 2, 2021"my mind is a country / that sets itself ablaze"
Birthright was a poetry collection that frequently made me feel as if I didn't know enough about poetry to enjoy it. Many of the forms used for the poems seemed as though they were part of a broader conversation within the genre that went over my head as an interested, non-expert. My favorites of the collection were "IX Mistranslations of Ash (Haifa, 2016)" and "Ode to Mennel Ibtissam singing Hallelujah on The Voice (France), translated in Arabic."
C/W:
Birthright was a poetry collection that frequently made me feel as if I didn't know enough about poetry to enjoy it. Many of the forms used for the poems seemed as though they were part of a broader conversation within the genre that went over my head as an interested, non-expert. My favorites of the collection were "IX Mistranslations of Ash (Haifa, 2016)" and "Ode to Mennel Ibtissam singing Hallelujah on The Voice (France), translated in Arabic."
C/W:
May 5, 2020
I visited Palestine on an educational delegation in 2014: it left a deep impression on me, so I’m always on the lookout for Palestinian writers, especially poets: opening my ears about the genocide and occupation is the least one can do.
But, man, this book is a stunning knockout. Not only is it adept at capturing a full range of emotions, from longing to anger to bitter confusion, but it is incredibly innovative in form and style. The poet plays on the page, and the forms themselves embody bigger meanings and themes: maps, erasures, webs, migration, power structures. And yet, this heightened formal awareness never overwhelms the careful beauty of the words and images and sentiments rendered. There are so many gut punch lines. It’s a collection for mourning and enduring.
But, man, this book is a stunning knockout. Not only is it adept at capturing a full range of emotions, from longing to anger to bitter confusion, but it is incredibly innovative in form and style. The poet plays on the page, and the forms themselves embody bigger meanings and themes: maps, erasures, webs, migration, power structures. And yet, this heightened formal awareness never overwhelms the careful beauty of the words and images and sentiments rendered. There are so many gut punch lines. It’s a collection for mourning and enduring.
March 17, 2020
Disclaimer - I was sent a free digital copy of this book by NetGalley in return for an honest review.
As an avid reader of poetry and prose, my initial thoughts on the book were that it takes a lot of concentration and thought to decipher some of the prose. However, as you delve deeper, it is a thoroughly enjoyable read. Paying homage to those that have suffered and are suffering in Palestine is something I believe everybody needs to lend their time to. On top of covering the struggles of past and modern day Palestine, the other manages to beautifully and heartbreakingly capture many of today’s mental health struggles, as well as struggles within western society’s. I would completely recommend this book to anybody and everybody.
As an avid reader of poetry and prose, my initial thoughts on the book were that it takes a lot of concentration and thought to decipher some of the prose. However, as you delve deeper, it is a thoroughly enjoyable read. Paying homage to those that have suffered and are suffering in Palestine is something I believe everybody needs to lend their time to. On top of covering the struggles of past and modern day Palestine, the other manages to beautifully and heartbreakingly capture many of today’s mental health struggles, as well as struggles within western society’s. I would completely recommend this book to anybody and everybody.
October 17, 2020
George Abraham has written complicated poems about love, family, history, Palestine, and belonging. There are gorgeous lines, novel poetry forms, and complex conversations all happening in this collection. At times, the poems are dense and hard to parse, at others they are more freely flowing. I love that they thanked the slam spaces where I originally heard their voice and poems around Boston. I love that these poems forced me to think about what it means to lose a country, what it means to be queer, what it means to love family.
February 16, 2024
A beautiful collection by Palestinian poet George Abraham. I love the way they discuss Palestine and the impact of imperialism with such rage and honesty. The way they expertly balance bleakness, defiance, and inspiration. The way he draws a line from himself back through the generations of struggle that came before him in so many of their poems.
“To laugh after being put on the watchlist, say finally you fuckers – to be a laughing-in-God’s face type of immortal-
To lean into the light, as if it was jealous enough to take us back; as if we weren’t ancestored before even drawing our first breaths-"
“To laugh after being put on the watchlist, say finally you fuckers – to be a laughing-in-God’s face type of immortal-
To lean into the light, as if it was jealous enough to take us back; as if we weren’t ancestored before even drawing our first breaths-"
April 14, 2020
I Enjoyed everything about this book there was nothing I didn't like about the book. I like the setting,the writing style,the plot,the plot twists and the characters in the book were amazing.I would gladly reread it again.I also like the concept of the book.
September 10, 2024
i can’t be unchanged after finishing this. i thought i was changed before but now: i am CHANGED
September 11, 2020
George!! My friend!!! You are so talented!!!!!!!
June 14, 2021
The blood and energy that brought me to poetry in the first place is coursing through this mesmerizing book.
December 31, 2023
the most moving book ive read in a minute,, here’s some things i’m thinking ab without giving details away.
this book “owe[s] nothing to Truth,” but everything to memory, so the writing is real inventive (at one point they call it an exhibit, which i def see). it feels like breaking apart and piecing together george abraham’s memories and familial histories with them; i often found myself holding my breath. (transformational) repetition, erasure, mirroring, contradiction, and borders appear very literally in the structure of these poems, reflecting how abraham feels their shifting experiences as a queer Palestinian-American.
the collection also translates (is always translating) and curses zionist tactics imbued in a lot of dialogue about Palestine. reflects on how language chosen by israel and americans especially has erased, warped, justified, and weaponized reality. it addresses the dangers of viewing the ongoing nakba and genocide with learned helplessness/as solely a watered down political talking point. instead, birthright roots out unambiguous humanity outside of the hyper strength/resilience/needing to prove yourself narrative (!!!), familial + spiritual + corporeal/biological impacts, living & mourning, longing + relation to queer love and fear, and the many intimate violences of colonialism while keeping Palestinians’ liberation at the center.
outside of the review of the book — part of the moving power for me is the familiar history and “central contradiction” for children of brutal diasporas/born as a result of exile/forced migration. im thinking about south africa ofc, but there’s something larger to be said about the future of long-standing Black and Palestinian connection and solidarity; idk yet. the thank you to Black writers Danez Smith, Terrence Hayes, and DéLana Dameron really brought that to mind for me. so did
“?reverse in read to hardest history isn’t
?repetition in digest to hardest it isn’t”
(isn’t history hardest to read in reverse? isn’t it hardest to digest in repetition?)”
birthright is a big rec if you learn/feel deeply from experimental poetry (poetry as critical theory and history! art/imagination as a part of tangible change! and outside of the colonial imagination— read his poem ekphrasis on a fragmented nationalism.) reminded to let guilt, grief, and rage be catalyzing emotions— another fav quote below:
“if i let this become an elegy, that means i failed.” this exhibit comes with a call to action, responsibility to life, and a lot a lot a lot of love.
there’s so much more that birthright had me wanting to say/hear, but this is a long ass review already. also! he has this set of instructions about reading in the end that i wish i read before the book started so look there if u want! it’s better to read from abraham than me, and tbh the book might be read better fresh with none of my notes — but if you want my copy, let’s share and talk more 🫶🏾
this book “owe[s] nothing to Truth,” but everything to memory, so the writing is real inventive (at one point they call it an exhibit, which i def see). it feels like breaking apart and piecing together george abraham’s memories and familial histories with them; i often found myself holding my breath. (transformational) repetition, erasure, mirroring, contradiction, and borders appear very literally in the structure of these poems, reflecting how abraham feels their shifting experiences as a queer Palestinian-American.
the collection also translates (is always translating) and curses zionist tactics imbued in a lot of dialogue about Palestine. reflects on how language chosen by israel and americans especially has erased, warped, justified, and weaponized reality. it addresses the dangers of viewing the ongoing nakba and genocide with learned helplessness/as solely a watered down political talking point. instead, birthright roots out unambiguous humanity outside of the hyper strength/resilience/needing to prove yourself narrative (!!!), familial + spiritual + corporeal/biological impacts, living & mourning, longing + relation to queer love and fear, and the many intimate violences of colonialism while keeping Palestinians’ liberation at the center.
outside of the review of the book — part of the moving power for me is the familiar history and “central contradiction” for children of brutal diasporas/born as a result of exile/forced migration. im thinking about south africa ofc, but there’s something larger to be said about the future of long-standing Black and Palestinian connection and solidarity; idk yet. the thank you to Black writers Danez Smith, Terrence Hayes, and DéLana Dameron really brought that to mind for me. so did
“?reverse in read to hardest history isn’t
?repetition in digest to hardest it isn’t”
(isn’t history hardest to read in reverse? isn’t it hardest to digest in repetition?)”
birthright is a big rec if you learn/feel deeply from experimental poetry (poetry as critical theory and history! art/imagination as a part of tangible change! and outside of the colonial imagination— read his poem ekphrasis on a fragmented nationalism.) reminded to let guilt, grief, and rage be catalyzing emotions— another fav quote below:
“if i let this become an elegy, that means i failed.” this exhibit comes with a call to action, responsibility to life, and a lot a lot a lot of love.
there’s so much more that birthright had me wanting to say/hear, but this is a long ass review already. also! he has this set of instructions about reading in the end that i wish i read before the book started so look there if u want! it’s better to read from abraham than me, and tbh the book might be read better fresh with none of my notes — but if you want my copy, let’s share and talk more 🫶🏾
February 21, 2020
the first time i used the word depression
with my parents, they said but you're so happy
here - couldn't marvel the sight
of their radiant house in flames : i fear
of horizon free of crimson , i wanted
to say, my mind is a country
who sets itself ablaze.
I don't know where to start. First of all, I do think that Abraham has a distinctive point of view and writing style. I love his choice of words; each page lingers. I also love how the book tackles issues regarding mental health, gender identity, forced displacement and longing for home. Although there are a lot of themes packed into one, they coexist harmoniously. I think this is also the first book that I have ever read by a Palestinian author. In Birthright, the author mourns for his fallen state.
On the other hand, I am not fond of the format. It will take some time to get used to.
Be warned, this is a heavy read. Might be too political for my liking.
Overall, a refreshing read from a talented writer. Kudos to Abraham!
Thank you to Netgalley for the Arc in exchange for an honest review.
with my parents, they said but you're so happy
here - couldn't marvel the sight
of their radiant house in flames : i fear
of horizon free of crimson , i wanted
to say, my mind is a country
who sets itself ablaze.
I don't know where to start. First of all, I do think that Abraham has a distinctive point of view and writing style. I love his choice of words; each page lingers. I also love how the book tackles issues regarding mental health, gender identity, forced displacement and longing for home. Although there are a lot of themes packed into one, they coexist harmoniously. I think this is also the first book that I have ever read by a Palestinian author. In Birthright, the author mourns for his fallen state.
On the other hand, I am not fond of the format. It will take some time to get used to.
Be warned, this is a heavy read. Might be too political for my liking.
Overall, a refreshing read from a talented writer. Kudos to Abraham!
Thank you to Netgalley for the Arc in exchange for an honest review.
December 3, 2023
bodies, borders, queer Palestinian identity, identity as someone who is told they don't exist or are unworthy of existing, cycles of trauma.
Also, poems based on video games!!! It's cool to see how Abraham did that, as it's something I want to explore.
A lot of interesting forms in general. I'm really curious about the Map of Home, and the way to Read beyond the linear. When assembling the collection, did they determine the table of contents order first, or the constellation map?
I like the anger here and how it simmers without feeling harsh and cutting? Sometimes anger in poems feel a little over the top, dramatic, loud. This anger feels more like a reclamation: I'm not writing for you. You don't deserve my forgiveness. Not sure if that makes sense.
Favorites:
- in which you cannot ask the state of israel to commit suicide
- ars poetica with parallel dimensions
- The Ghosts of the Wxhibit Are Screaming (Palinode)
- Emphasis on a Fragmented Nationalism (prose poems reads like an essay)
- from Adaptation Portraits (strange cartographies)
- To All the Ghosts I've Loved Before
Also, poems based on video games!!! It's cool to see how Abraham did that, as it's something I want to explore.
A lot of interesting forms in general. I'm really curious about the Map of Home, and the way to Read beyond the linear. When assembling the collection, did they determine the table of contents order first, or the constellation map?
I like the anger here and how it simmers without feeling harsh and cutting? Sometimes anger in poems feel a little over the top, dramatic, loud. This anger feels more like a reclamation: I'm not writing for you. You don't deserve my forgiveness. Not sure if that makes sense.
Favorites:
- in which you cannot ask the state of israel to commit suicide
- ars poetica with parallel dimensions
- The Ghosts of the Wxhibit Are Screaming (Palinode)
- Emphasis on a Fragmented Nationalism (prose poems reads like an essay)
- from Adaptation Portraits (strange cartographies)
- To All the Ghosts I've Loved Before
April 28, 2020
Abraham's use of form is intriguing and entertaining, but when the form hardens into blocks, the emotions stop coming slanted and gasping, and instead land hard, like running into that wall of text, heart first. When there’s space to breathe, to look around in wonder at experience-now blended into experience-then, and to feel pulled in rather than shut out, the poems speak loudest to me. This all fits well with the themes of disjointed family, shifting memory, and an entire place and culture being walled off into silence. A paradox of form, that the white spaces have a necessary sound. This collection felt like sitting down to listen to a friend late at night, requiring a centered place inside to listen and time to let them say all that needs said.
Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
August 7, 2021
From the Foreword:
"Within these pages, we examine the inverse of birthright. How do I write this without mentioning the obvious oppressor? An oppressor who deserves no more space in our minds, in our imaginations. I will their erasure in the writing of this and in the reading of Abraham's words. The violent existence of Israel, our complicity in allowing it. The ongoing genocide of Palestinian people and the rapid theft of their land and lives."
This whole collection is staying with me; the lyric, exposition, narrative, the Map of Home at the end. A few poems I keep thinking about: "ars poetica with waning memory," "from Adaptation Portraits (strange cartographies)" and the series of "in which you do not ask the state of israel to commit suicide."
"Within these pages, we examine the inverse of birthright. How do I write this without mentioning the obvious oppressor? An oppressor who deserves no more space in our minds, in our imaginations. I will their erasure in the writing of this and in the reading of Abraham's words. The violent existence of Israel, our complicity in allowing it. The ongoing genocide of Palestinian people and the rapid theft of their land and lives."
This whole collection is staying with me; the lyric, exposition, narrative, the Map of Home at the end. A few poems I keep thinking about: "ars poetica with waning memory," "from Adaptation Portraits (strange cartographies)" and the series of "in which you do not ask the state of israel to commit suicide."
April 18, 2024
As someone who doesn't read a lot of poetry, this book occasionally requires extra focus and consideration to understand what is being said. Nevertheless, it is effective in evoking emotion as you read through the author's struggles of identity- what it is to be Palestinian, Palestinian America, a queer Palestinian American, and all of the ways those identities intersect.
There is a brutality in this book that stems from pain. It is often both hard and soft, casual and exploring depths that bring about more questions and considerations once you've made it there.
Highly recommend!
There is a brutality in this book that stems from pain. It is often both hard and soft, casual and exploring depths that bring about more questions and considerations once you've made it there.
Highly recommend!
July 7, 2021
This collection is inventive, humorous, tragic. It contains stunningly beautiful language and innovative scientific premises. The only reason it wasn't a five-star read for me was the fact that some of the poems' experimental forms were a bit off-putting and I felt obscured their message. I know that was intentional, but I really do wonder what some of the poems would have looked like if they were more straightforward. That being said, I was wildly inspired by this.
August 17, 2023
This collection is one that I would add to my small list of reading that I believe should be “required reading.”
Abraham writes with a brilliance I have yet to see, with genius and heart that cannot be contained within the page. I will definitely be returning back to this one.
So many important stories in here, and with the queer middle eastern representation I have been looking for.
This is Palestinian liberation in the most beautiful way. ❤️
Abraham writes with a brilliance I have yet to see, with genius and heart that cannot be contained within the page. I will definitely be returning back to this one.
So many important stories in here, and with the queer middle eastern representation I have been looking for.
This is Palestinian liberation in the most beautiful way. ❤️
February 19, 2024
It feels wrong to give something (so gut-wrenching, authentic, personal, words I can't think of right now?) like this a rating. To be queer, Palestinian, non-binary, raised in amerikkka, and more -- George Abraham puts so many experiences onto paper and shares such intimate thoughts.
Normally I'm able to list several poems that I really enjoyed but the entire book needs to be read all together. I borrowed this from my local library but I will definitely be purchasing my own copy soon.
Normally I'm able to list several poems that I really enjoyed but the entire book needs to be read all together. I borrowed this from my local library but I will definitely be purchasing my own copy soon.
August 7, 2020
I have maybe 20 pages to go and cannot finish this. While it is well written, it is an experiment in reading. Ideas are sometimes abstract, sometime solid. Sometimes there is a thought-map-where you have to jump around the page. Formatting is not traditional. Themes repeated. And overall, I am not the audience for this poetry collection.
February 25, 2020
At times this collection of poems are particularly hard to read given the content. The verse is personal, filled with emotion. It makes you realise how hard it must be to live in a land where you have no say in your affairs.
January 31, 2024
Deeply moving, unfortunately timely and timely and timely again. A beautiful and painful collection of queer Palestinian-American poetry that captures what can only be understood or experienced in fragments, broken pieces, perfect lines.
August 8, 2024
A deeply personal and unforgiving collection of prose and poetry. A lot of creativity put into the construction of these poems. This is simply an honest and unapologetic account of living as a Palestinian in the diaspora and a journey with being non-binary.
February 20, 2022
Beautiful book of poetry. The different styles of poems on each page were beautiful and the message throughout the book is heartbreakingly powerful.
October 8, 2022
One of the best collections I’ve read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews