Poem #10 from Ahmed Douma’s ‘Curly’
“This throng of questions wounds / Especially when the situation is “silent.”
Poetry
An Excerpt from Ahmed Douma’s ‘Blasphemy’
“ns, one-sided as ever. But, as I tell my soul and its wishes, the window is merely the beginning of error. It is confusing that it looks at you while you cannot see.”
Poetry in Translation: The 13th Century ‘My Religion—My Wine’
The author of the text translated here — one of the two poems by Nasir that appeared in the FOLK issue of ArabLit Quarterly — is a Jewish poet and popular entertainer named Nasir, who enjoyed local acclaim in Mamluk-era Cairo around the year 1300 CE.
Poetry in Translation: Fadi Azzam’s ‘This Is Damascus, You Sons of Bitches’
“She has enough patience to wait for a climax with the force an earthquake, and enough shoes and slippers hanging in al-Hamidiyah market to whack fifty deserving dictators.”
Poetry in Translation: Salah Jahin’s ‘Cigarette Ash’
Salma Harland translates the legendary “Cigarette Ash” («تراب دخان» ) written by the legendary Salah Jahin (1930-1986) in 1967.
Two Poems by Al-Dawy Mohammed Al-Dawy
“Many years ago / I swallowed a butterfly while I was singing.”
New Poetry in Translation: ‘The Light Isn’t Surrounded by Guards’
‘Rays of light aren’t surrounded by guards.’
‘She Stretched Out Her Hand’: A Translator’s Tribute to Mourid Barghouti
“My first memory of reading a poem by Mourid Barghouti (1944-2021) goes back to the tenth grade. I was reading “غمزة” (“A Wink”) from his “قصائد مختارة” (Selected Poems), and I was fascinated by how Mourid managed to give such a sense of movement to his words.”
Two Laughter Poems & a Cover Reveal from Maya Abu al-Hayyat’s ‘You Can Be the Last Leaf’
“You will hear and taste her laughter and also yours. Because laughter is ‘the excess knowledge no one takes seriously,’ the cherished identity smuggled out of psychology and surveilled consciousness.”