‘A Letter in My Purse’: From Slain Poet Shaimaa El-Sabbagh
Shaimaa El-Sabbagh, the activist who was shot dead at a rally in Tahrir Square yesterday, was also a poet:
By Shaimaa El-Sabbagh, trans. Maged Zaher
————————–
I am not sure
Truly, she was nothing more than just a purse
But when lost, there was a problem
How to face the world without her
Especially
Because the streets remember us together
The shops know her more than me
Because she is the one who pays
She knows the smell of my sweat and she loves it
She knows the different buses
And has her own relationship with their drivers
She memorizes the ticket price
And always has the exact change
Once I bought a perfume she didn’t like
She spilled all of it and refused to let me use it
By the way
She also loves my family
And she always carried a picture
Of each one she loves
What might she be feeling right now
Maybe scared?
Or disgusted from the sweat of someone she doesn’t know
Annoyed by the new streets?
If she stopped by one of the stores we visited together
Would she like the same items?
Anyway, she has the house keys
And I am waiting for her
Maged Zaher is a 2013 “Genius” award winner who both writes and translates poetry. His most recent collection is Thank You for the Window Office, and his most recent translation The Tahrir of Poems.
‘A Letter in My Purse': From Slain Poet Shaimaa El-Sabbagh
January 26, 2015 @ 12:20 am
[…] MLYNXQUALEY on JANUARY 26, 2015 • ( 0 […]
January 26, 2015 @ 12:46 am
Reblogged this on CARPE DIEM.
January 26, 2015 @ 12:47 am
Reblogged this on Qawem. and commented:
الرحمة لروحك ..
January 26, 2015 @ 3:03 am
Reblogged this on Sing Better English.
January 26, 2015 @ 3:05 am
Thank you for printing this poem. I can’t imagine how her family must be feeling. Reblogged this too.
More Blood Leaks, More Hearts Break. | seraphictruth
January 26, 2015 @ 3:16 pm
[…] http://arablit.org/2015/01/26/a-letter-in-my-purse-from-slain-poet-shaimaa-el-sabbagh/ […]
Egypt slaughters protestors, with help from US aid | Systemic Capital.com
January 26, 2015 @ 7:24 pm
[…] Shaimaa al-Sabbagh, 32, a left-leaning poet and activist, was killed in Cairo. She was a member of a socialist political party that had supported President […]
January 26, 2015 @ 9:06 pm
Reblogged this on Choose Ukraine and commented:
RIP to all the young talented people we seem to lose each day. Are the best ones leaving soonest?
January 26, 2015 @ 10:50 pm
After my friend sent to me a headline of her shooting my heart sank. Wasn’t this a peaceful protest, moments of silence, and remembrance? She, who I did not know personally, should not be dead because of peace…along with many others. It is however a bittersweet warming to know She was a poet, most likely one of gentle truthful words of wisdom.
May She rest in a better peace than, some times this world can offer.
Shakrun.
January 26, 2015 @ 10:51 pm
Reblogged this on Run-On Sentences and commented:
Be at peace now.
Is Freedom of Expression Worth Dying For? | Imen Blioua Blog
January 26, 2015 @ 11:08 pm
[…] poet, a politician, and a martyrs, Shaimaa El-Sabbagh is still alive. You have just created another […]
January 27, 2015 @ 12:24 am
Oh my gosh. May she rest in peace. The poem is beautiful.
At Least 18 Die in Egyptian Violence - AutomaticBlogging AutomaticBlogging
January 27, 2015 @ 1:19 am
[…] President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood. And Shaimaa al-Sabbagh, 32, a left-leaning poet and activist, was killed in Cairo. She was a member of a socialist political party that had supported President […]
January 28, 2015 @ 3:55 am
We are all diminished when a poet passes. I did not know her, nor her circumstances but this does not prevent me from passing through grief at this news.
'A Letter in My Purse': From Slain Poet Shaimaa El-Sabbagh - Arab America
January 28, 2015 @ 6:07 am
[…] Source: arablit.org […]
January 28, 2015 @ 6:18 pm
Is it not “A Letter to my Purse”?
January 28, 2015 @ 6:41 pm
I suppose that would seem to make more sense, but the title here is “جواب في الشنطة” http://www.kataba.org/%D8%AC%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%86%D8%B7%D8%A9-%D8%B4%D9%8A%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%BA/
January 29, 2015 @ 5:00 am
Reblogged this on freeblogsworld.
Al via la 46° edizione della Fiera del Libro del Cairo tra cultura, rinnovamento religioso e politica estera | editoriaraba
January 29, 2015 @ 6:34 am
[…] giorni diversi siti si sono occupati della sua tragica morte: Nazione Indiana, e prima ancora Arabic Literature (in English), hanno pubblicato la traduzione di una sua poesia dal titolo “Una lettera in borsa”. Il 30 […]
New Online in January 2015: Arabic Literature in Translation | Arabic Literature (in English)
January 31, 2015 @ 6:32 am
[…] “A Letter in My Purse,” by Shaimaa El-Sabbagh, trans. Maged Zaher […]
February 1, 2015 @ 11:31 am
This poem is beautiful. It is beautiful because it personifies the purse that is now with someone else, a stranger emitting a new and unwelcome sweat. She wrote this before she was killed, in anticipation, foretelling. “Anyway, she has the house keys/And I am waiting for her.” This is unspeakable sadness. Why do things have to end this way? Why do governments have this perception of self that they have the right to exist over the life of someone else? This is where they go wrong. When beauty of this kind is smitten, the memories do not die, they become solidified in our minds, at least those of us, who are emboldened by the suffocation of real life, for our hearts can only live in the real, which is inside the thinking mind.
I once told an economist that the strength of the stock market was dependent by 3/4s on consumer confidence. Sartre spoke of the coming together of the French to the Bastille when they did not have cellphones. You cannot kill all of us. And yes, we will have to sacrifice ourselves. I wish it didn’t have to be this way, but much of the world is unrealized, and so it takes time. The pressure builds up on the other side of a wall and it topples simply because there is too much weight on one side. Economic inequality will face the same music. The 1% is too small a number to fight against the 99.
‘A Letter in My Purse': From Slain Poet Shaimaa El-Sabbagh | Thinkers' Forum USA
February 4, 2015 @ 1:46 am
[…] BY MLYNXQUALEY on JANUARY 26, 2015 • ( 21 ) […]
Coming to Mourn Tahrir Square’s Dead, and Joining Them Instead - AutomaticBlogging AutomaticBlogging
February 4, 2015 @ 6:00 am
[…] poem “A Letter in My Purse” was about a lost handbag. “Anyway, she has the house keys,” Ms. Sabbagh wrote, “and I am […]
The activist killed in Tahrir Square on Jan. 25 was a poet—here’s one of her works – Quartz
February 4, 2015 @ 6:56 pm
[…] post originally appeared at Arablit.org. The arabic version is from […]
February 5, 2015 @ 2:25 am
Reblogged this on Mark Geoffrey Kirshner.
In The Blood of Revolution: Egyptian Police Brutality Against Protesters AnonHQ
February 5, 2015 @ 5:36 pm
[…] http://arablit.org/2015/01/26/a-letter-in-my-purse-from-slain-poet-shaimaa-el-sabbagh/ […]
The Death of Shaimaa el-Sabbagh | themoonsickest
February 5, 2015 @ 7:14 pm
[…] “A Letter in My Purse,” by Shainaa […]
February 8, 2015 @ 1:52 am
Reblogged this on Perth Words… exploring possibilities. and commented:
Thanks Jessie Lenndennie from Salmon Poetry for sharing this.
‘A Letter in My Purse': From Slain Poet Shaimaa El-Sabbagh | learnmeall45
February 13, 2015 @ 4:05 pm
[…] ‘A Letter in My Purse': From Slain Poet Shaimaa El-Sabbagh. […]
Death of a poet | Ephemeris
February 16, 2015 @ 1:56 am
[…] then even more so when I read her poetry. The opening and closing lines are taken from her poem A letter in my purse […]