Poems on Gaza—Contemplating the Impossible & Being Steadfast in Solidarity w/ JAMAICA OSORIO

"I am a poet without language and an empath without root. I am overflowing in something I do not recognize... something like terror, but still not quite that."

In this episode of the Speaking Out of Place podcast, Professor David Palumbo-Liu talks with poet, activist, and scholar Jamaica Osorio. Shortly after October 7, 2023, she began to write a series of astonishing poems about the war in Gaza and the genocide. Osorio graces us with readings of some of those poems, and engages in a rich, complex, and deeply moving discussion of what went into their composition. Throughout, we talk about the power of poetry to suspend time and allow us the space to contemplate the impossible. We talk about the nature of not knowing, of the inexpressible, and the ways certain poems can give us the strength, energy, and commitment to persist in working for the liberation of all peoples, even when dwelling in grief.

Dr. Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio is an Associate Professor of Indigenous and Native Hawaiian Politics at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Her award-winning poetry and activism were the subject of the Sundance Film Festival documentary This is the Way we Rise, and she is the author of Remembering our Intimacies: Moʻolelo, Aloha ʻĀina, and Ea, published by The University of Minnesota Press. She believes in the power of aloha ʻāina and collective action to pursue liberatory, abolitionist futures.

(0:00) Intro

(2:00) The Silence After October 7, Jamaica Osorio discusses the struggle to find language and the pressure to speak out

(5:00) The Sounds of Empire in Hawaiʻi Connecting the military helicopters over Pālolo Valley to the skies of Gaza

(7:00) Reading "For Palestine"

(13:00) Lingering in the Inexpressible Why poetry must offer questions and suspensions rather than simple answers

(18:00) Taking Risks and Earning Trust The vulnerability of sharing deeply personal, grief-stricken art with the public

(24:30) Reading: "It's Time to Dance" A beautiful meditation on holding the joy of a child alongside the terror of a genocide

(29:00) Children as Ancestors and Teachers How Osorio’s daughter teaches her to be fully present in both grief and joy

(37:00) Reading: "Rafah Burns" A raw poem about parenthood, weeping with a newborn, and the global resonance of loss

(42:00) Finding Connection in the Dark The shared emotional vocabulary of crying when the world becomes incomprehensible

(44:00) ʻOnipaʻa: To Be Steadfast

(46:00) The Ungovernable Belief in a Better World Why the organizers and poets will outlast the empires that try to dominate them

Episode Website

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