My sister screamed in the night
Take me to my brother’s house
And there she screamed that same night
No no! Take me back to the house of my father
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poetry
Friday Finds: ‘Another Trip to the Tower Mirage,’ by Yasser Abdellatif
and marble like ivory
gleaming damply
with daylight dwindling
till shadows swallow
stealing footfalls
and three lifts to the left.
‘A Poet’s Hallucinations,’ by Dareen Tatour
Desire builds a nest
Between the branches of my love.
It sings like a bulbul, night and day
And sweeps through me like fire through straw.
Poet Ramy al-Asheq: ‘In the Sea’s Playground’
Levi Thompson is working with Syrian poet Ramy al-Asheq, currently based in Germany, on translating a collection of his poems. Here, Thompson shares one translation and thoughts on bringing al-Asheq’s work into English: By Levi Thompson Ramy al-Asheq’s poetry lays… Read More ›
A New Translation of Palestinian Poet Dareen Tatour’s ‘I… Who Am I?’
I am Me…
A storm of angry waves at sunset,
Its breathing strangled in the grip of the winds.
But as I draw near the question pulls away,
And I keep on asking: “Who am I?”
Must-read Classics by Women: Two New Translations of Nazik al-Malaika (1923-2007)
“She died, but no lips shook, no cheeks turned white
no doors heard her death tale told and retold,
no blinds were raised for small eyes to behold
the casket as it disappeared from sight.”
Friday Finds: A Conversation with Jehan Bseiso and Filmpoem ‘No Search, No Rescue’
“Being naturally bilingual, you already inhabit this in-between kind of space. And hearing my poetry in my mother tongue, it feels very different.”
Friday Finds: Iman Mersal on Saniya Salih
“I did not find Saniya Saleh in Cairo.”
Arabic-to-Spanish Translators: Poetry-translation Contest Open Through July 31
“The idea is to celebrate literary dialogues, translation, poetry, poetry translation and linguistic diversity.”
Friday Finds: An Interview with Amer Hlehel and Amir Nizar Zuabi about ‘Taha’
“It is very dangerous what I’m going to say: Taha’s poetry about the Palestinian catastrophe lasts much more than Darwish’s poetry.”
Friday Finds: Cure Your Slavery with Patience
Cure your slavery with patience
and prayers
or so I was told
7 Arabic Poetry Books Forthcoming in Translation: From Adonis to Zaqtan
There seems to have an general uptick in Arabic poetry forthcoming in English translation. These are the six (correction, SEVEN) on ArabLit’s radar.
