Poetry in Translation: ‘Taking a Break from Despair’
There is a beautiful moment in iconic Syrian poet Riyad al-Saleh al-Hussein’s “War. War. War,” here translated by Ibtihal Rida Mahmood, when the narrator sees his beloved on a beach, “Taking a break from despair / She asks me about a delicious place with no police / A place where we could exchange poems and kisses,” and the narrator tells her about this place.