Photo by Kamal Moon courtesy of Wisconsin Muslim Journal
Tasneem Jassar
Tasneem Jassar is a poet, writer and activist whose work is inspired by her Palestinian identity and the global struggle for Palestine. She is an Emerging Poet Fellow at Woodland Pattern Book Center in Riverwest as well as active member of Milwaukee 4 Palestine, a local organizing group in steadfast solidarity with the people of Palestine living under Israeli occupation.
Jassar moved to Milwaukee from Jordan about six years ago. Both of her grandfathers had been poets, and they left a lasting impression on Jassar’s own passion for words and imagery. “I actually began as a fiction writer,” she explains. “I’ve written some nonfiction pieces too, but I've mostly been a fiction girl.”
During her third year attending college at UW-Milwaukee, Jassar took a workshop class that became her foray into the world of poetry. “After that I haven’t written anything but poetry,” she says. “This was it. It all made sense.” She connected with the workshop so much because she loved getting to share creative energy with other poets in the room. “Poetry has changed the way I view objects and how I think about memories,” Jassar notes. “Like, everything in my room that I’m looking at right now, I want to write about.”
Woodland Pattern
Jassar graduated from UW-Milwaukee in 2023 with a degree in creative writing and a minor in women and gender studies. Shortly after finishing school, she visited Woodland Pattern Book Center and immediately became enamored with the place. “I’m so grateful that they exist because we honestly need them,” Jassar affirms. “I applied to be an Emerging Poet because I really like workshops, and I wanted to keep getting different perspectives.”
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
Upon being selected for the fellowship, Jassar began working on a manuscript under the mentorship of Ae Hee Lee. When the ongoing genocide in Gaza escalated last October, however, everything changed. “At that point, I couldn’t write about anything other than Palestine,” Jassar recalls. “My mentor understood and told me that she’d love to see those poems. My manuscript is about Palestine now.”
Her compositions have touched heavily on coping with and processing grief around the ongoing oppression of Palestinians. Some pieces are heavy while others are filled with joy and empowerment. “It’s a healing process when I get to share them,” Jassar affirms.
Jassar has shared her poems at local marches and rallies for Palestine. One such event in Madison last December was one of the first times she ever shared her work with anyone other than friends or her mentor. “That experience helped me understand better where I’m leaning as an artist and how I want to be able to communicate with my community,” Jassar asserts. “I feel powerful getting to do that, but I know it’s also giving power to other people there, especially Palestinians.”
Artists Against Apartheid
Photo by Ahmed Khan
Tasneem Jassar
Tasneem Jassar at Artists Against Apartheid event in Chicago
Then she attended the Artists Against Apartheid event in Chicago back in April where she shared more of her work. “It was honestly such a great and inspiring community,” Jassar describes that event. “I’m still friends with them and talk to them. We all get each other and are in the struggle together.”
In her poem “During A Car Ride,” Jassar details asking her displaced Palestinian father about home. “Me and my dad talk about Palestine a lot, sometimes for hours,” she elaborates about the piece. “He’s been sharing stories about what he went through since I was little, and I wrote that poem right after I had a conversation with him where I asked him about something, but he didn’t answer. Sometimes it’s hard for him. I was thinking about that silence and how we as Palestinians have such a hard time always having to speak up. We don’t get the chance to stay silent, even if we prefer to.”
In another, “My Beloved Palestine,” Jassar proclaims her unwavering love and commitment to a Free Palestine. She begins the piece, “My beloved Palestine, I do not dare to sleep where there’s waves of your pain in my eyes. How can I sleep when half of my people are sent to the sky? Palestine, I swear I laid out all my heartache / told it to everyone so they can remain awake / cried until my tears filled the river and the sea / cried until everyone started chanting with me.”
On what being active in the local Palestine struggle has taught her, Jassar shares, “I hear a lot of people say “Palestine changed my life” including from Palestinians who haven’t necessarily been that vocal or into their heritage, but also from non-Palestinians too. I don’t think they realize that them saying that is also changing my life. As an organizer, it inspires me to keep doing what I’m doing.”
Tasneem Jassar hopes to begin publishing her work in the near future, and she plans to stay active in the local Palestine solidarity movement. “Art should be as urgent as fighting in the struggle,” she concludes. “Palestinian artists should have the same respect as any other artists, and nothing can stop us.”
Follow Tasneem Jassar on Instagram @tasneemjassar. Visit her Linktree here.
