If only our bodies were bulletproof

If only our boats were made of steel

If only our dreams were real.

Gaza, 2008.

A Palestinian journalist writes poetry on the beach.

A doctor must decide to stay or leave.

Then come the missiles and the phosphorus showers.

This is a furious and tender exploration of the fragility of freedom. The national collides with the personal as activism and reporting take to the stage. Tales of a City by the Sea uses poetry, tenderness and humour to explore the love between those who have choices, and those who do not. Language fails us when it comes to displacement and grief; yet Samah Sabawi’s language cracks grief open and remains present, like the sea.

Read by the cast of New Zealand Refugee TV show 'Miles From Nowhere.'