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    The Sun InterviewBy Judith HertogTo RemainRaja Shehadeh on Living through Destruction in Palestine

    I have been thinking that people all over the world these days are feeling a sense of despair because, like me, they are seeing the destruction of the world as they knew it. But it has occurred to me that the real destruction of my world happened in 1948, when the Palestinians lost Palestine.

    Distractions
    Readers WriteBy Our ReadersDistractions

    Reading at work, listening to music during labor, swatting gnats while meditating

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Eric Paul Shaffer

Eric Paul Shaffer doesn’t surf, although he lives on O‘ahu atop the remains of the Ko‘olau Volcano. Today the caldera is peaceful enough for him to write. He is the author of ten books of poetry, including Second Nature (forthcoming in 2026) and Green Leaves: Selected & New Poems. (ericpaulshaffer.com)

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Poetry

The Eleventh Street Irregulars

After long afternoons restoring the decrepit boat, we watched trains / pass and deciphered riddles in bottle caps we twisted free / with empty hands and our ready, useless strength.

July 2026
Poetry

Illumination

On those cold, clear winter mornings, I rise in the dark, and I sit / beneath a lamp with a pen and paper in a circle of light / barely bright enough for the work.

August 2011
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