I have said for quite a while now that compared to the rest of the online (and offline) poetry community, I'm sadly under read. Someone I've recently become acquainted with runs Other Voices Poetry Project, which deals mainly in non-American poets.
He's introduced me to some wonderful poetry, and my latest addiction is the poetry of Arabic women. It's always so striking and poignant, or at least, in my pathetic experience it is. I just wanted to recommend two of them in particular, for those who may be interested.
Nathalie Handal
Forugh Farrokhzad
(IRAN)
8 comments:
Erin, there's a good page of links to Arabic poetry websites at: http://www.al-bab.com/arab/literature/poetry.htm
i read a few of handal's work in the link you gave and i think her stuff rocks. she has a lot of soul i think.
Thanks so much for sharing this!
These are super. Thanks! I'm friends with a man from Cairo who used to write poetry, but it's not been translated and now he doesn't have time to do it, himself. Besides the difference in subject matter, he has described the different forms a poem written in Arabic can take, as compared to him and the commonness of the response poem there (at least when he was writing and historically). It's all fascinating.
thanks Lyle!
I'll go have a look there, and I'm glad the rest of you enjoyed the links I posted.
a really amazing arab american woman poet is suheir hammad, who may be best known for her (apparently tony award winning) stint on def poetry jam. i just saw her read in san francisco last week. this woman is soulful; she brought me to tears. here's her website:
http://www.suheirhammad.com
and a link to the publisher who's putting out her next book:
http://www.rattapallax.com/hammad.htm
Ah! Another to check out and no doubt love!
Thanks!
excellent erin. i love translations.
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