Fatima Houssana. Her story is still deeply impact on me. It’s probably because I see myself in her. She was 25, ambitious and determined to show the world her truth. She was targeted and killed by Israelis after finding out a film she was in, was picked up for the Cannes Film Festival.
I wrote this for her, for us, for every Gazan young woman, for every woman fighting.
Fatima. • Maybe I will be next, she said Her face shone in the light of the wreck —age young and she, an old tale of a warrior in the rubble. Her weapon captured the signs of life among the dead, Flashed images of resistance, on her insistence to focus on the out cry of her people I want my death to be loud, she declared, right before they took her out, her family and her home. But her cheeky smile is seared in my mind’s eye for the life she lived Brazen with rebellion, a voice in the wilderness Of ancient wisdom traditions, her colors worth a thousand words, Heard across the barricades and siege, they found her a threat and the beauty of her work reached beyond the drones when her face shone under the sun —light. She is the fight among millions left after thousands gone, Do you hear her beyond the grave? Bless-ed is she whose eyes glimmered her grief and her fierce defiance Her voice started a riot and dared to be true, Truth costs life, Fossilized into mines under contaminated earth burned ashes, Her Vision will become flowers and olive trees alike along the seas salt healing flashes …in the waves. Ancestor at 25, she knew her fate, too early and now it’s too late. If only we might follow her wisdom and go out so loud with resounding rounds to stop the bombs and bullets Until a tender silence hangs in the air, and breath of deliverance is laid like a bouquet on her grave, ...to honor her name.
We gotta go out loud, she knew the stakes, and we got to help her stay loud.
Do share this, tell her story, research her story.
Be her story.
Ash Gallagher is a Poet, a Veteran War Journalist and activist who’s authored a war Memoir and 2-Poetry collections. To get in touch with her for analysis, consult, podcasts and so on, reach out and email her here.
Resources Links,
Sepideh Farsi’s Instagram (she’s the director of the film)