After Gaza

Something of the courage
of a classic line, the modest jolt
that is like a chaperone between noun
and verb, the sheer humility
of the svelte heroic impact:

something as clean-run as that
seems to lend itself so well
to the honour of the sound
you’ve made. And in the language
of deed, bevelled so far deeper than

words,
you have buried yourself
among the buried,

laurelled now with an elegance twice-earned.

Alice Oswald was Oxford Professor of Poetry from 2019 - 2023. On August 9 2025 she was among 532 people arrested in London under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act at a protest where signs in support of Palestine Action were displayed.

Omar Sabbagh is a widely published poet, writer and critic. Two of his latest books are, Y KNOTS: Short Fictions (Liquorice Fish Books, 2023) and Night Settles Upon the City (Daraja Press, 2024). He teaches English Literature and Creative Writing at the Lebanese American University (LAU) in Beirut, Lebanon.