A Litany of Words I Cannot Read

Rayya Liebich’s newest chapbook, A Litany of Words I Cannot Read (PS Guelph 2026), follows the linguistic traces that echo from the genocide in Palestine through the horrors of clips and reels as the conflict is broadcast through social media. Through a month-to-month record, Liebich reflects the distance from land and language that aches within stories of transnational migration and diaspora. The poetry grapples with how Arabic phrases she recognizes resonate simultaneously in both the comforting sound of her mother’s native language and in the agony emanating from Gaza. A Litany of Words contains poems in English as well as a blend of Arabic, English and French.