Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear
Mosab Abu Toha
Poems written from Gaza under siege — a debut that made Mosab Abu Toha one of the most vital young voices in Palestinian literature.
Written entirely in Gaza, where the poet was born and raised under blockade and repeated wars, Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear records what it means to make a life — and a poem — under drones, bombs, and power cuts. Against that violence Abu Toha sets the stubborn particulars of endurance: strawberries, jasmine, a father’s garden, the sea. The collection closes with an extended interview in which the poet reflects on writing in English, his family’s dispossession from Yaffa, and poetry as a form of staying.
Published by City Lights in 2022, the debut won the American Book Award and the Palestine Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Its poems reached a vast new readership as Gaza’s destruction deepened, and its author came to embody literature as witness.
About the author
Mosab Abu Toha is a Palestinian poet, scholar, and librarian from Gaza, founder of the Edward Said Public Library there. A Harvard and Syracuse alumnus, he has written for The New Yorker and The New York Times; his second collection is Forest of Noise (2024).
Details
- Published by City Lights Books, 2022
- Winner of the American Book Award and the Palestine Book Award; NBCC finalist
The edition
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Connected in the archive
23 connected records23 records elsewhere in the archive are linked to this one, each by a piece of evidence you can read below.
named in this record — 2 records
One record names the other. A pointer for reading, not a claim that they belong to each other.
- Jaffaيافا
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: The collection closes with an extended interview in which the poet reflects on writing in English, his family's dispossession from Yaffa, and poetry as a form of staying.
- Mosab Abu Tohaمصعب أبو توها
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Mosab Abu Toha is a Palestinian poet, scholar, and librarian from Gaza, founder of the Edward Said Public Library there.
names this record — 2 records
One record names the other. A pointer for reading, not a claim that they belong to each other.
- On a Starless Night
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: "On a Starless Night" comes from Mosab Abu Toha's debut collection Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza (City Lights Books, 2022).
- Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: The title poem of Mosab Abu Toha's debut collection, Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza (City Lights, 2022), was first published in Poetry magazine in 2021 and is dedicated to Alicia M.
on a related subject — 19 records
Filed near each other — the same Mandate district, or the same uncommon subject tags.
- 30 Seconds from Gaza: Diary of Genocide
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "gaza".
- A Long Walk from Gaza
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "gaza".
- A Mountainous Journey: A Poet's Autobiography
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "poetry".
- Beit Hanounبيت حانون
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "gaza".
- Dareen Tatourدارين طاطور
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "poetry".
- Fadwa Touqanفدوى طوقان
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Shared tag: "poetry".
- and 13 more
Cite this page
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- Chicago
“Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear.” Library, FALASTEEN.AI. Accessed 22 August 2026. https://falasteen.ai/library/things-you-may-find-hidden-in-my-ear/.- MLA
“Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear.” Library, FALASTEEN.AI, 2026, https://falasteen.ai/library/things-you-may-find-hidden-in-my-ear/. Accessed 22 August 2026.- BibTeX
@misc{falasteen-things-you-may-find-hidden-in-my-ear, title = {Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear}, howpublished = {\url{https://falasteen.ai/library/things-you-may-find-hidden-in-my-ear/}}, organization = {FALASTEEN.AI — A Living Archive for Palestine}, year = {2026}, note = {Accessed 2026-08-22} }