What Suheir Hammad means to me

Suheir Hammad is a special kind of poet because you can both hear and read the passion she holds within her through her poems. The second I watched "Daddy's Song" (video featured in a post below), I knew that I wanted to research more about Suheir Hammad and tell of her story through this blog. Her words act as a form of encouragement, her words act as a form of support, and her words act as a form of hope. Her poems are powerful. Each poem that I read from sparked emotions inside of me that I would not expect from a poem that is as short as hers usually are. In particular, I love the way that she recites her poems aloud. She knows how to emphasize certain words to make their impact prominent and she knows when to lower her tone to be either somber or excited when the poem calls for it. Suheir Hammad's poems have actually sparked a poetic nerve inside of me and I came up with the following:

She is Not
She is not only a poet, but a political activist fighting for those who cannot fight for themselves. She is not only the voice for the poor and unfortunate, but the comfort for a country torn apart. She not only write and recites poems, but paints a visual for the readers to relate to. She not only recites poems, she brings people to tears with her words. She is not just words because her words - they hold life within themselves.

In addition to her poetry, I found that she was a thoughtful and caring person as well. After Hurricane Katrina hit the South she rushed over to provide aid both physically and through her words. She organized an event titled "Refugees for Refugees" in which she raised five thousand dollars for the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. To me, when someone sees that people are hurting and immediately comes up with a plan, they are very special people because they are hard to come across.