Another gutting collection of poems from Mosab Abu Toha. It's hard to describe how urgent and desperate these poems feel. Where Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear felt more reflective and processed, Forest of Noise is raw in every way.

From "For a Moment:" The girl I carry / is dead, / I know that. / The pressure of the explosion / tore apart her thin veins. / I know she is dead, / but everyone who sees us / runs after us. / You are alive / for a moment, / when living people / run after you.

From "After Allen Ginsberg:" I saw the best brains of my generation / protruding from their slashed heads.

From "Gaza Notebook (2021 - 2023):" At fifth grade, I visit the school library, / On a wall by the door, a poster claims, / "If you read books, you live more than one life." / Now I'm thirty and whenever I look at faces / around me, old or young, on each forehead I read: / "If you live in Gaza, you die several times."

His poetry speaks for itself - it's a necessary collection.