Synopses & Reviews
"These translations of Mahmoud Darwish's marvelous poems reveal the lifelong development of a major world poet. The book is a gift to other poets and lovers of poetry. It's also an important contribution to current and future discourse on culture and politics."Adrienne Rich, author of
Fox: Poems, 1996-2000"At this critical moment in world relations, cultural, creative projects feel more necessary than ever. Celebrate this most comprehensive gathering of Mahmoud Darwish's poetry ever translated into English. Darwish is the premier poetic voice of the Palestinian people, and the collaboration between translators Akash and Forché is a fine mingling of extraordinary talents. The style here is quintessential Darwishlyrical, imagistic, plaintive, haunting, always passionate, and elegantand never anything less than freewhat he would dream for all his people."Naomi Shihab Nye, author of Fuel
Synopsis
Mahmoud Darwish is a literary rarity: at once critically acclaimed as one of the most important poets in the Arabic language, and beloved as the voice of his people. He is a living legend whose lyrics are sung by fieldworkers and schoolchildren. He has assimilated some of the world's oldest literary traditions at the same time that he has struggled to open new possibilities for poetry. This collection spans Darwish's entire career, nearly four decades, revealing an impressive range of expression and form. A splendid team of translators has collaborated with the poet on these new translations, which capture Darwish's distinctive voice and spirit.
About the Author
Mahmoud Darwish is the author of twenty books of poems, including Memory for Forgetfulness: August, Beirut, 1982 (California, 1995), The Adam of Two Edens (2001), and Psalms (1994). He received the 2001 Prize for Cultural Freedom from the Lannan Foundation. Munir Akash is editor of Jusoor, The Arab American Journal of Cultural Exchange, and coeditor of The Adam of Two Edens (2001) and Post Gibran: Anthropology of New Arab American Writing (2000). Carolyn Forché is Professor of English at George Mason University and author of The Angel of History (1994). Sinan Antoon is coeditor of Arab Studies Journal. Amira El-Zein is the author of Bedouin of Hell (1992) and The Book of Palm Trees (1973).
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments Munir Akash
Introduction Munir Akash and Carolyn Forché
FROM Fewer Roses (1986)
I Will Slog over This Road
Another Road in the Road
Were It Up to Me to Begin Again
On This Earth
I Belong There
Addresses for the Soul, outside This Place
Earth Presses against Us
We Journey towards a Home
We Travel Like All People
Athens Airport
I Talk Too Much
We Have the Right to Love Autumn
The Last Train Has Stopped
On the Slope, Higher Than the Sea, They Slept
He Embraces His Murderer
Winds Shift against Us
Neighing on the Slope
Other Barbarians Will Come
They Would Love to See Me Dead
When the Martyrs Go to Sleep
The Night There
We Went to Aden
Another Damascus in Damascus
The Flute Cried
In This Hymn
FROM I See What I Want to See (1993)
The Hoopoe
FROM Why Have You Left the Horse Alone? (1995)
I See My Ghost Coming from Afar
A Cloud in My Hands
The Kindhearted Villagers
The Owls Night
The Everlasting Indian Fig
The Lute of Ismael
The Strangers Picnic
The Ravens Ink
Like the Letter "N" in the Quran
Ivory Combs
The Death of the Phoenix
Poetic Regulations
Excerpts from the Byzantine Odes of Abu Firas
The Dreamers Pass from One Sky to Another
A Rhyme for the Odes (Muallaqat)
Night That Overflows My Body
The Gypsy Woman Has a Tame Sky
FROM A Bed for the Stranger (1999)
We Were without a Present
Sonnet II
The Stranger Finds Himself in the Stranger
The Land of the Stranger, the Serene Land
Inannas Milk
Who Am I, without Exile?
Lesson from the Kama Sutra
Mural (2000)
Mural
Three Poems (before 1986)
A Soldier Dreams of White Tulips
As Fate Would Have It
Four Personal Addresses
Glossary