In Monday, 21 Oct. 2013 our literature class had
held a talk by a blogger from Gaza name Refaat Al-Areer in Bilik Falimbani, FBMK, UPM. He is the one who
manage a blog entitled thisisgaza.wordpress. He is from Gaza, Palestine.
He
use his blog to express his thought and feeling about Palestinians. He used his
blog to represent himself as a poet to the outside world. The emcee of the talk
is Khairil Anuar B. Shariff. Mr. Refaat gave us a lot of information about what
happening in Gaza before this and right now. He also gave us the inspiration to
be a good writer.
We do not have to follow the specific rules to
be a writer but we need to follow our gut. First, we have to noticing our
determination to write and slowly trying to develop that skill. After noticing
it we need a lot of practice because a good writer is someone that never
stopping from practicing their works and skills. On top of that, do not afraid
of failure because failure is the way to success.
Dr. Haslina introduced the speaker, Refaat Al-Areer to the students.
Mr. Refaat Al-Areer gave the talk.
Our
emcee, Khairil Anuar opened the Q and A session to the students to give us the
opportunity to ask the speaker about something that we do not understand.
There are some students who asked question.
Q and A session
1. The speaker favorite poet and why he likes him?
Refaat Al-Areer really loves the
literary works by John Donne. He is the role model and his inspiration in
literature field. He likes how John Donne plays with words and he is also
originally great with poetry. But in terms of romantic poetry, he chose T.S
Elliot.
1. Before the war, what the style of Palestinians poets?
Before the war, the poems Palestinians
poets are produce is more about their personal life and feeling. But they still
touch the political conflicts that occur during that time. So, even after the
war they have almost the same pattern of poems. After the war, there are more
poets that want to dedicate their thought and feeling about Palestine and toward
Palestinians.
1. How do you know the others feeling when you trying to produce a
poem that related to them?
Being a poet means you are able to be
anybody else. For example is William Shakespeare. He can produce hundreds of
literary works with hundreds of characters that he never been one of them. A
poet does not have to be the person that was literally exposed and you do not
have to be the person that has touch by the crime in able to write but it is
enough to live in those circumstances. Like in his poem entitled “Fresh Baked
Souls”.
“Fresh Baked Soul”
As fire balls and sparks descend,
And the little ones rejoice,
Look up, and cheer, unable to comprehend,
Sooner than they expected
They will be blown
(It’s none of their wishes
If only they had known!)
And more freshly grilled balls of flesh ascend.
And fall on full dishes
And fill the boxes.
And the hollow minds.
The full bellies.
They look down. Rejoice. Cheer.
“Freshly baked!”
“Freshly baked!”
“Who wants freshly baked flesh for breakfast?”
“Throw me a piece.”
“Throw me four.”
“I have just eaten but crave for more.”
***
The hearts are not hearts.
The eyes can’t see.
There are no eyes there.
The bellies craving for more.
A house destroyed except for the door.
The family, all of them, gone
Save a photo album
That has to be buried with them
No one was left to cherish the memories
No one.
Except freshly baked souls in bellies.
Except for a poem.
By
Refaat Al- Areer
1. What the state of women and children education in Gaza?
In Gaza women get a
good education right. There are 15 writers in Gaza and the majority of them are
women with 12 writers. Besides, there are lots of females joining and studying
in university rather than men. They are also very active in activism works. In
Gaza, education is compulsory because everyone believe in education right.
1. How the situation in Gaza before the Israeli attacking?
Before the Israeli attacking, the
Palestinians live depended on farming and agriculture. Their life is very
simple. Most of the people are farmers. Besides, there are a lots of people
pursued their study outside the Gaza like in Egypt and Jordan because there is
no university in there during that time. But they only have some small
colleges.
1. What is the symbol of olive pictures in his blog?
Olive symbolizes Palestine in so many
ways. It is everywhere in Palestinians culture. They use olive oil to cure
every possibilities of disease or sickness. It is generally rooted between men
and land. Olive symbolized the existence of Palestinians. It symbolize of
happiness.
Comment/remark:
I think he had given a good talk about how to
become a poet. You do not need the instruction to rule you to write a poem. You
need to read and listen to a good poem and try to imitating them if you want to
be a good writer and poet. You must have the desirable and the determination to
write anything and you need to practice a lot. On top of that, you need to
noticing your skill and trying to develop it and never quit even if you are
facing the failure because J.K Rowling said that “you have to fail if you want
to success”. Other than that, I also like the quote from the speaker about
knowledge. “If knowledge is like a prey, if I could, I will catch them and put
them in the cage like a bird”. It explains how meaningful an education is. He
had convinced me that to be a writer you do not exactly need to develop the
skill.
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