An evening of poetry in solidarity with Palestine was held at Dorchester’s popular venue and record shop, Vinyl Van, on Wednesday, 12 March. The event was organised and hosted by Naomi Wilcox-Lee in partnership with the Dorset Palestine Solidarity Campaign (DPSC) and brought together twelve local poets who shared their own work, and pieces by Palestinian poets.
Among the performers were former and current Bards of Dorchester, Peter Roe and Molly Dunne. Peter presented a selection of poems submitted for a special “Gaza Collection”.
Naomi, who is co-chair of Dorset PSC, described the idea behind the event:
“We held our first Poems for Palestine event just over a year ago. Poetry can serve a powerful purpose in bringing people together, giving voice to our feelings, amplifying the experiences of oppressed peoples, and helping us to imagine a brighter future. We did all these tonight. It was an emotional and cathartic evening. Huge thanks to everyone who shares their poetry!”
A heartfelt message was played from Gaza resident Hani Al-Assar, who lives in Nuseirat in Gaza, with his wife, Umm, and their three children, Ahmad, Aysal and Mohammad. In a voice note, Hani expressed gratitude to the people of Dorset for ongoing support for Palestinians:
“I would like to thank you all for what you are doing for Palestine; keep going and don’t stop. All our love to you.”
Peter Roe, lead editor and director of publisher, The Jawbone Collective, said:
“I was blown away at the quality of the poetic contributions and moved to tears by the voice messages sent from Gaza to one of the attending poets thanking Dorset people for their support.”
Funds raised during the evening will support the “Festival of Palestinian Culture”, a week-long cultural event being organised by Dorset PSC this summer in Dorchester.
