Shrapnel Maps

by Philip Metres

Writing into the wounds and reverberations of the Israel/Palestine conflict, Philip Metres' fourth book of poems, Shrapnel Maps, is at once elegiac and activist, an exploratory surgery to extract the slivers of cartography through palimpsest and erasure. A wedding in Toura, a suicide bombing in Jerusalem, uneasy interactions between Arab and Jewish neighbors in University Heights, the expulsion of Palestinians in Jaffa, another bombing in Gaza: Shrapnel Maps traces the hurt and tender places, where political noise turns into the voices of Palestinians and Israelis. Working with documentary flyers, vintage postcards, travelogues, cartographic language, and first person testimonies, Shrapnel Maps ranges from monologue sonnets to prose vignettes, polyphonics to blackouts, indices to simultaneities, as Palestinians and Israelis long for justice and peace, for understanding and survival.

Genres: Poetry, Read For School, Middle East

94 pages, Paperback

First published April 28, 2020

Reviews

[Elly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most impactful books [of poetry, but also generally] that I’ve ever read. For anyone who cares about the Holy Land, the Levant, the “land with so many different names that to try to speak them all is to become crowded with history”, this should be an essential read. I struggle to find words to capture how I feel about the strip of land between the river and the sea, (my thoughts are too fragmented and wrapped up in feelings and facts from the past, present, and ominous future) and somehow this book captures that fragmentation perfectly. It’s a collection of many glimpses into the history and the present of the land and the occupation, the lives of the real humans beings that live and breathe on the land, and all the beauty, trauma, atrocities, and symbolism that comes with it. Not to mention the unique experimental format of the poetry, something I haven’t encountered much (although I haven’t read too much poetry). I finished reading this book, but I think I’ll keep returning to it forever. And I’ll for sure need to go back into it and research all the real people it’s dedicated to and the media it’s inspired by. For a person who isn’t Palestinian nor Israeli, (but does have familial ties to the region) Philip Metres does an incredibly well rounded, thoughtful, and sensitive job of immersing himself in that world and reflecting on what he has learned and observed from real people and being physically present. But anyway, that’s just my opinion as the lil exraeli anti-Zionist Jew that I am ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but I hope you hear me!

[Maya Salameh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shrapnel Maps is an intergenerational and often devastating account of a Palestinian family's exile and transnational connection to their homeland. Mixing family photos with materials of occupation such as postcards and legislative decrees, Metres braids his poems into a tender and vigilant account of land stolen. Consider: "now scrape the bride & groom gently from the walls" or "the names of the ones who covered you / whose riddled bodies your voice now speaks through." Metres elevates the medium of the palimpsest, bridging variegated voices with ease and fluidity. Space is disputed, recalled and claimed all on the same page - truly one of my favorite poets. Overall, the book is wide and luminous, reminding us always to "memory / the earth you come from."

[Jessica Cuello · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a dense and textured book—I spent several days with it. It covers a lot of ground and is rich with multiple voices, almost cacophonous. The book seems to be saying that it is possible to hear (encompass?) different voices at once if we allow ourselves to listen (but not in the way we are accustomed to doing so). Unlike Metres’ Sand Opera, which has a visceral immediacy, I felt an acute sense of distance—a long view of history & time, even in the poems which had a personal perspective—as if the poet is holding his material in tender spaciousness. I found myself reading in a non-linear way, moving back and forth between sections and voices. One of my favorite poets.

[Mikey Rogers]

Again, most but not all poems. Phillip came to our class!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd highly anticipated this book of poetry centered around the Israel / Palestinian conflict. It was an intimate, touching, and tough read. Metres opens with Amichai and Darwish excerpts, which sets the stage for what's to come. Beautiful throughout, heartbreaking throughout, an attempt to meld and render messy narratives on the page.

[Tara Ballard · Rating 5 out of 5]

" ) / & though the sun will be too bright for the bride / to see beyond her own eyes // ) // & though the bullet in the groom will begin / to hatch in his side, & the stitches in his skull // ) // will singe another verse in the book of dreams, / & though the bride's questions will beak their shells // ) // years from now, now, now, let there be dancing / in circles, let the village become arms flung // ) // drawing bodies to bodies & let heads nod / & eyes widen, which we translate as meaning: " (translated title "Waraq")

[Burgi Zenhaeusern · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection whose every detail you want to savour, from the poem sequences, to the afterword, to the layout, and to the book as physical object itself. There is so much to discover and learn from every aspect of Shrapnel Maps. It is polyphonic in every sense, and often while reading, I tried--as the poems invite and the author suggests--to hear the different voices reciting/speaking simultaneously without intersecting, nor communicating, like the (seemingly?) unbridgeable conflicts that separate them. A chorus of all too human voices each following along their own score, tragically. And then, there are the homages to the bridge-builders. The poems in Shrapnel Maps are not afraid to dwell in what cannot be reconciled and in the resulting discomfort, thus becoming a bridge-builder in its own right. I love this book and will hold it dear.

[Char · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finally got a chance to sit down and examine this piece of art by Philip Metres. I’ve had this book since a reading he did where he generously gave me a copy of his book when I had no money with me because “art is meant to be shared”

This book really gave me a lot of perspective and showed me I had a lot to learn about the Israel-Palestinien conflict. Overall though its a reminder that behind all of the stories are just people living their lives believing what they have grown up being told. I also thought that the photos and art dispersed throughout it were a really cool touch.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like his earlier poetry collection Sand Opera, Shrapnel Maps is about the contingencies of war and conflict. This time, however, Metres focuses in on the Israel/Palestine conflict, and the last 40 or so pages of poems and found documents are indeed impressive. It's the sort of collection that gets stronger the more that you dwell on the stories that Metres experienced while visiting there, and well worth any potential struggle or gap in foreknowledge about the events depicted.

[Mark Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing collection considering how two similar but different enough cultures can live side by side in both a Cleveland Neighborhood and then Palestine and Israel. The latter considers what has been lost/taken in Palestine through found poetry, documentary poetry, and other poems. This is the first collection I've read by Metres. I look forward to going back and reading more. If you have the chance to hear Metres read I recommend it.

[Shawn Aebi · Rating 4 out of 5]

the importance of physical maps and boundaries is explored in this expansive, creative text. The world of the Palestinian at times dissected and folded into the conflict that shadows over it, at times explored from within, at times observed from afar - with debate, incantations, and poetic exploration not trying to resolve but to endure.

[Grace Wiles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve never read a book of poetry like this before. Metres sets up a catalogue of poems exploring the lives of individuals living in Palestine and the historical factors that have brought us to this point. It’s a testament to the existence of the Palestinian people — that they exist, even between the words of the dominant history. I’m a Metres fan.

[Jocelyn Chin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phil has an incredible way with words. his care, empathy, thoughtfulness, and intelligence are clear in his poetry and choice of imagery. i couldn’t help dog-earing a couple of my favorites, especially in VI. Unto a Land I Will Show Thee.

[Chris Roberts · Rating 1 out of 5]

The idea of Israel exists in decades past,
if at all, it is a self-realized phantom state.

#poem

Chris Roberts, Patron Saint to the Long Travelers

[Ali]

heartbreaking, beautiful collection of post-modern poetry about Israel and Palestine

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A difficult, sad, deep and loving portrait of the land of Israel/Palestine, with respect to both Arab and Jewish peoples.

[Sara Shocks · Rating 5 out of 5]

deeply moving poetry/visual project about Palestine