May 19, 2025

Door On The Road by Mosab Abu Toha

28 minutes

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In this episode of Words That Burn, I take a closer look at "Door on the Road," by Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha.

The poem opens with the aftermath of an explosion in a refugee camp, where a fallen door becomes a grave marker for a young man whose only remaining connection to his past is a worn key — the key to his family’s lost home in Yaffa.

As I unpack the powerful imagery in Abu Toha’s work, I explore how everyday objects like doors and keys become symbolic vessels for profound loss, memory, and hope in the context of forced displacement. I also delve into the historical significance of Yaffa, a once-thriving Palestinian city now largely inaccessible to its original inhabitants, and how the city’s erasure is mirrored in the poem’s narrative.

Throughout the episode, I draw connections between the poem and Abu Toha’s 2024 poetry collection Forest of Noise, a body of work that documents life in Gaza through stark, evocative imagery and deeply personal narratives. I discuss how the collection uses poetry as a means of bearing witness to everyday atrocities and preserving cultural memory amidst conflict.

00:00 The Poem

01:14 Introduction to Words That Burn Podcast

01:26 Support for Palestine

02:52 Mosab Abu Toha: A Witness Poet

06:27 Analyzing 'Door on the Road'

08:02 The Symbolism of the Door

14:02 The Key to Yaffa

22:10 The Tragic Reality of Palestinian Life

27:11 Final Thoughts and Call to Action

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