“Hello, everyone. I’m Joy, a writer from Gaza and I’m still here working on my book.
It’s my first published work to be released into the world and it is almost finished.
You know, with every page I read, a part of me wishes that I didn’t have to document this pain and this book didn’t have to be born from so much suffering. I don’t want this sorrow to be documented and become like a permanent blue bruise on the body of the world but it must. It needs to exist to remind the world of the duty it has forgotten.
My collection of poems includes one titled “Lest the Hoarse Voice of Journalism Fade Away.” In it, I documented the targeting and the massacres against those who are supposed to be protected and have international protection. Actually, I don’t know why this is happening to Palestinian journalism but I am certain of one thing: If the last journalist in Gaza is assassinated, I will put on their press vest and helmet, pick up their microphone, and continue their path.
Every poem I wrote was born of the continuous pain of our reality. More than two of them were written during the darkest days of famine when we went days without any food and surviving only on a little lentil soup. To be honest, I can’t stand the sight of it anymore, and I probably never will.
Small, painful moments I experienced are etched into every line. This constant pain created my pen, my book, and my poems. As long as this genocide continues, my writings will continue also, until Palestine is free from the river to the sea.
This is all for now. I might review every poem in the coming days but this is where I stand.
Thank you all � and see you.