It all began with An Open Letter to Fernando Rendón. On Saturday, April 5, 2025, I wrote this letter to my friend, the renowned Colombian poet Fernando Rendón. We were preparing for the periodic meeting of the World Poetry Movement Coordinating Committee, composed of representatives from the world’s continents. Our virtual meeting commenced on Sunday afternoon, Cairo time, starting with a discussion of my letter, which read:
My friend Fernando,
Tomorrow we gather at the virtual table of the World Poetry Movement. We are the sons and daughters of poetry, the mothers and fathers of verse. We dream of speaking about rhetoric, eloquence, schools of poetry, journals, anthologies, and collections. We plan events, evenings, and festivals—but all of that is now postponed.For death surrounds us. The images of ruin and destruction have spilled out from that small country, Palestine, staining both vision and insight, splashing across screens, newspapers, and hearts—leaping like a hunchback, striking the imagination with his crooked cane!
What are we to do, Fernando?
A hundred years have passed since a usurer named Balfour made a promise: giving a country he didn’t own—Palestine—to people who did not deserve it—the Zionists!
A century drenched in massacres: Haifa, Jerusalem, Bab al-Amud, Jaffa, Abu Shusha, Tantura, Qibya, Qalqilya, Kafr Qasim, Khan Younis, Al-Aqsa, the Ibrahimi Mosque, Jenin, Rafah, Jabalia, and Gaza… A hundred years have seen two world wars come and go—and now the third dances over the bodies of the dead, as demons revel in the ruins of this beautiful homeland.
What can we do, Fernando?
We have only words. We know only truth. But the world no longer believes in alphabets. It has hurled sacred books into the fires of war—along with divine and earthly laws!
During the holidays, the bombers did not rest. It was not only the souls that ascended, but the bodies too—waving farewell as they rose. It is not only the people of Palestine who die—we die with them, every day.
What are we to do, Fernando?
A year ago, when the world came together at the table of the World Poetry Movement to condemn Zionist crimes, we hoped—naively—that genocide might be averted. But we, as poets do, were dreaming… in a night haunted by nothing but nightmares.
What are we to do, Fernando?
Following the letter, the poets—our World Poetry Movement coordinators from every continent—shared their thoughts: Kao Xue (China), Fernando Rendón (Colombia), Alex Bousiedos (Cuba), Khalid Al-Rissouni (Morocco), Christine Chen (New Zealand), Vadim Terikhin (Russia), Abdallah Issa (Palestine), Ali Al-Amri (Jordan), Rati Saxena (India), Achour Fenni (Algeria), Sylvie Marie (Spain), and Aminur Rahman (Bangladesh).
I proposed the launch of the initiative “Palestine | A Poem a Day”, with the Silk Road Today platform publishing the poems and translating them into Arabic. The project was implemented with a unified visual design and trilingual publication (Arabic–English–Spanish). I also began selecting poems by the great late poets of Palestine, whose words continue to resonate as immortal verse.
It was heartening that this initiative extended beyond the movement’s members, attracting poets from outside its bounds. The esteemed Egyptian translator, Dr. Salwa Gouda, offered her valuable contribution, translating a selection of nine poems by contemporary poets—including the militant poetic pioneer, Mu’in Bseiso—into English for the initiative.
Within ten days, the number of published poems exceeded thirty. The project continues to flourish, aiming to culminate in the final week of June, during which the World Poetry Movement will present two days of readings of a thousand poems from a hundred countries in support of Palestine—its land, people, rights, and cause.
As I design each poet’s poster and translate their work between Arabic and English, I recall the days of curating the Silk Road Literature Anthologies. Five volumes have been published: “Asia Sings”, “Mediterranean Waves”, “Ancient Egyptians, Contemporary Poets”, “One Thousand and One Nights, One Thousand and One Poems”, and “Nano Poems for Africa”. Each edition included over 150 creatives from more than 50 countries.
I now plan to release this new anthology, Palestine | A Poem a Day, in a groundbreaking format—a creative surprise in the world of publishing—to be revealed in due time.
