Oh my goodness…the folks at BlogsCanada have included Parking Lot in their list of top Canadian blogs for this month. I am truly flattered. Go visit the list for some great Canadian reading. Thanks to judges Jay Currie and Jim Elves, and all of you anonymous folks who nominated this humble scratch pad.
Nelly’s Poem by Etel Adnan From the Lebanese Women’s Association site I conclude this survey of Tammuzi poets with some lines from the Lebanese poet and painter Etel Adnan from her long poem “The Spring Flowers Own“: I see heading East the pearl-colored march of clouds roses lend their blood to young soldiers drowning in the Tigris flowers triumph over the human race their tragedies are short-lived their agonies exude incense and myrrh at the entrance of temples they are the ones to be eternally eternal. I envy their youth their lucency their quiddity we are the shadows and they, …
Another nice collection of Arabic poetry in English is online at Kikah. Among the poets there is the innovative free verse pioneer Badr Shakir al-Sayyab who died in 1964 as the Tammuzi poets’ moment was drawing to a close. His poem Return to Jaykur starts like this: I roamed the hills on the grey horse of a dream fled the outstretched vistas, fled the marketplace teeming with vendors, fled the weary morning, the barking night, the quiet passers-by, the gloomy light, fled the wine-drenched landlord, fled the shame decked in flowers and death in its leisurely stroll along the river’s …
Cain murders Abel by Marc Chagal I was thinking about Yusuf al-Khal’s poem “Cain the Immortal” today when I stumbled across this fantastic archive of Marc Chagall interpretations of Genesis. A propos of nothing I was thinking of two friends of mine, both men, who have just gotten married, despite the objections of a sizable minority of Canadians who say that gay marriage will tear apart the family. And then I looked at various images of Cain murdering his brother out of jealousy, and re-read al-Khal’s poem for the lament that it is, and I wondered just what this ideal …
Adding more poets to my collection of Tammuzi poets, I have just found a few poems by Muhammad al-Mughat from Lebanon. This one, “When the Words Burn” exhibits the kind of duende I associate with Lorca, but, given the Arabic influence on Adalusian poetry, I can see where it comes from. Check it out: Lebanon… white woman under the water; mountains of breasts and fingernails. Scream, voiceless country! Raise your arm high till the shoulder splits and follow me, the empty ship, the wind laden with bells. Over the faces of mothers and captive women, over the cold ashes of …