Helen Hennessy Vendler (1933–2024)
no reader, no critic, no teacher has meant more to me. her inexhaustible work is our common bounty; getting to know her was my inconceivably good luck
https://t.co/p1ZGbaTEaN
Nothing is over, that is the only certainty.
The other certainty is that everything ends, even this.
—Joshua Clover
Goodbye, friend. You made me want to do better
This is Hossam’s team, and we are sharing his final message :
“If you’re reading this, it means I have been killed—most likely targeted—by the Israeli occupation forces. When this all began, I was only 21 years old—a college student with dreams like anyone else. For past 18 months, I have dedicated every moment of my life to my people. I documented the horrors in northern Gaza minute by minute, determined to show the world the truth they tried to bury. I slept on pavements, in schools, in tents—anywhere I could. Each day was a battle for survival. I endured hunger for months, yet I never left my people’s side.
By God, I fulfilled my duty as a journalist. I risked everything to report the truth, and now, I am finally at rest—something I haven’t known in the past 18 months . I did all this because I believe in the Palestinian cause. I believe this land is ours, and it has been the highest honor of my life to die defending it and serving its people.
I ask you now: do not stop speaking about Gaza. Do not let the world look away. Keep fighting, keep telling our stories—until Palestine is free.”
— For the last time, Hossam Shabat, from northern Gaza.
"...a painstaking formalism, a commitment to steadfastness and sobriety, as in his sonnets, which boast tattoo-precise lines and the willful sturdiness of gravestones..."
Thank you @cspaide! These words on At the End of the World There Is a Pond are so generous + insightful!!!
before I bounce from this website for the near (or far) future, two last things to share about Helen Vendler. I wrote one of a few remembrances of her in the latest issue of the Wallace Stevens Journal:
I got to talk about Helen Vendler—as a teacher, colleague, friend—on the @PoetryFound podcast Poetry Off the Shelf; many thanks to Helena de Groot for this marvelous episode on HV and Marjorie Perloff: https://t.co/9clT7RnOtP
This October, @MLAnews leadership blocked a BDS vote, which, they argued, “would potentially lead to a drop-off in revenue in states with anti-BDS laws.” In response, seven MLA members have issued a statement demanding a BDS vote.