"The beginning, we choose. / But the end chooses us. / And there is no road but the road."
6 Poems: The Self-translations of Sargon Boulus
"In Sargon’s poems, the figure of the poet-translator manifests itself through the stranger who is constantly departing and arriving, with blurred memories of the journey itself."
Iraqi Literature in Translation: A Brief Introduction
Yet Iraqi literature continues, somehow, to blossom. There are older writers Fadhil al-Azzawi and Muhammad Khudayyir still at work (although the former in exile), and much younger ones, too: Thirtysomething Iraqi Hassan Blassim has been called "perhaps the best writer of Arabic fiction alive."
For Your Thursday Afternoon: (Arab and) Arabic Poetry
Adonis is still working on poetry, but next---his memoirs.
The Under-appreciated Sargon Boulus
Sinan Antoon has a new Boulus translation in today's Jadaliyya: "The Corpse". Coming on the heels of the Nobel-lit three-ring circus (who will it be? it should be Adonis! it should be...!), the poem made me reflect on how little-known the towering, excellent Boulus is in English---outside of Banipal readers.
Where to Find the Best Arab American Poets…
If you're looking for it, there are a number of places to seek out excellent Arab American poets. They are celebrated individually (Khaled Mattawa just won a major poetry award) and as a group, as in the most recent Banipal (38).
