Rafeef Ziadeh + Janet Galbraith
Rafeef Ziadeh
We teach life, sir
Rafeef is a Palestinian spoken word artist and human rights activist based in London, UK. Her performance of poems like ‘We Teach Life, Sir’ and ‘Shades of Anger’ went viral within days of its release. Her live readings offer a moving blend of poetry and music. Since releasing her first album, Rafeef has headlined prestigious performance venues across several countries with powerful readings on war, exile, gender and racism.
Her third album Three Generations is a selection of spoken word poems, with original music compositions. The sequence of linked poems is a deeply moving, powerful, personal remembrance of Palestine, Al-Nakba, exile, defiance, and survival. It is also a beautiful testament to the human spirit, to ‘love and joy against skies of steel’.
We Teach Life, her second album, is a powerful collection of spoken word with original music compositions, which she brings to the stage with Australian guitarist and We Teach Life producer Phil Monsour. Rafeef received the Ontario Arts Council Grant from the Word of Mouth programme to create her debut spoken-word album Hadeel. She regularly conducts spoken word workshops with the aim of empowering expression through writing and performance. She was chosen to represent Palestine at the South Bank Centre Poets Olympiad in 2012.
Rafeef’s debut ablum Hadeel is dedicated to Palestinian youth, who still fly kites in the face of F16 bombers, who still remember the names of their villages in Palestine and still hear the sound of Hadeel over Gaza. Rafeef’s debut CD Hadeel, We Teach Life and Three Generations are available at Bandcamp.
The above is taken from
Rafeef Ziadeh's website 10 December 2023
Rafeef Ziadeh's spoken word is bought from Bandcamp.
*Janet Galbraith has chosen to foreground the work of Rafeef Ziadeh. Please visit her website and buy her videos and spoken word from Bandcamp.
Janet has chosen to foreground this well loved poem by Rafeef Ziadeh, We teach life, sir
Janet Galbraith
'The genocide of the Palestinian people is both ongoing
and not inevitable. We must refuse it. We can refuse it'. Rasha Abdulhadi
66 days + 75 years
I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive.
I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive.
I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive.
I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive.
I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive.
I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive.
I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive.
I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive.
I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive.
I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive.
I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive.
I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive.
I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive. I am still alive.
I am still alive.
* This poem is my response to Rafael Zaideh's poem above and Rasha Abdulhadi's statement. It quotes from posts by journalists, doctors, poets, human rights activists and others in Gaza. The first time I saw the statement was in a tweet of @Muhammad Smiry and then others including: @khalilo1 @Wizard_Bisan1 @azaizamotaz9 @BayanPalestine @yasser_gaza @MahaGaza @WaelDahdouh @Hind_Gaza @byPlestia @madhoun95 @itranslate123 @gaza_psych @NourNaim88.
Janet Galbraith is a disabled queer creative employing multiple mediums including poetry. Part of a family of settlers of Scottish heritage, Janet was born in unceded Waywurru Country and currently lives in the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri-Woi Wurrung. Janet's writing is published in newspapers, literary journals, academic journals and anthologies. They are mentor to various writers and poets and co-founder of the collaborative project Writing Through Fences. Janet co-edited the Southerly journal Writing Through Fences: An Archipelago of Letters, 2022. Their poetry collection re-membering is published by Walleh Press. Janet is co-curator of Convergence-s: Free Palestine: A Convergence of Voices, 2023.
Olive leaves cast shadows against a grey surface
