Poetry by Ra’ad Abdulqadir: ‘The Song of the Eternal Citizen’
“Angels don’t cook / Poetry is inedible / What will we eat today? Legends?”
Poetry
Remembering Bahraini Poet Ghazi Al-Haddad (1961-2021)
“If my tongue was cut, / let it grow back and call out ‘Jamri’”
Iraqi Poet Saadi Youssef (1934-2021) Dies in London
“In the early morning hours of June 12, the great Iraqi poet Saadi Youssef died at his home in the village of Harefield, outside London.”
Friday Finds: Must-watch Special Episode of ‘Maqsouda’ on Palestinian Poetry
“Poets Zeina Hashem Beck and Farah Chamma, co-hosts of the podcast Maqsouda, share a one-time video special filmed by Hind Shoufani.”
Friday Finds: A Discussion of Ra’ad Abdulqadir’s ‘Except for This Unseen Thread’ with Mona Kareem & Sinan Antoon
On May 27, Kareem joined poet and novelist Sinan Antoon — who has called Abdulqadir “a poet’s poet” — to discuss Except for This Unseen Thread.
’67 Children’: A Friday Poem by Ahlam Bsharat
“67 mothers calling”
Friday Finds: Two Poems by Ameer Hamad
“These two poems translated by Katharine Halls are small enough to carry in one’s palm; they utilise a mode of poetic witness attuned to distillation, frankness, and the startling force of an ending.”
From ‘Your Name, Palestine’ by Olivia Elias
“Eyes fixed on the Mediterranean /
mirage shimmering from afar /
we sail from island to island /
between walls and barbed wire”
‘The Cat Cow’ by Ahlam Bsharat
“I want to hug the cat named Cow, who survived the war”