Solidarity: Poetry Night
February 26, 2025
Four Seattle-area poets – Jane Wong, Paul Hlava Ceballos, Gabrielle Bates, and Luther Hughes – read at Common Objects in support of two families in Palestine, including the family of Aboud Al-Najjar, a 23-year-old law student and poet in Gaza.
Recordings of Aboud reading his own work were played, and copies of his chapbook were sold, along with signed collections donated by the featured poets and other donated art pieces.
Deepa Sivajaran, who organized the event, said in reflection:
“The actual night of the event went very smoothly - I was impressed by the help by other CAM volunteers and the great set-up at Common Objects even while the space is under construction. I was also happy that we were able to require masking for the event, which a lot of venues will no longer allow - I have Long COVID and many of the people who attended were also disabled or immunocompromised, so I know that made the event feel safer for all of us.
Overall we had somewhere in the range of 60-70 people attending and collected around $2000 dollars total.”
Money raised during this event was donated to families in Palestine.
Aboud Al-Najjar is a law student and poet in Gaza, Palestine. He, his parents, and his four siblings were displaced from their village in late 2023 when their home was destroyed by Israeli bombs, and they have been moving around Gaza living in plastic tents ever since, trying to survive under genocide. Aboud found that poetry helped to transform the pain into verses, poems, and words that could alleviate what was inside of him. His first pieces are collected in his chapbook, Birds and Olives, which will be shared via recording as well. His Instagram is @aboad_alnajjar.
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