Poetry Thread

[ggould]

I read the Writer's Almanac every morning, and often find some very cool stories and birthdays.

http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/

For today, Saturday,  the entire issue was about one poet, which is unusual, and I was moved by the poetry:

It's the birthday of Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani,  born in Damascus (1923). His father owned a chocolate factory, and he gave money to support the resistance of Syrian guerillas, so he was put in prison on various occasions. When Nizar Qabbani was 15, his older sister committed suicide rather than marry a man she did not love. After that, he devoted his writing to championing romantic love and urging women to break the constraining bonds of the traditional roles Arab society set out for them. He said: "Love in the Arab world is like a prisoner, and I want to set it free. I want to free the Arab soul, sense and body with my poetry."

He published his first book of poetry, The Brunette Told Me (1944), when he was 19 years old. Its erotic poems created a controversy in conservative Syrian society. He went to law school and then became a diplomat, serving in Cairo, Istanbul, Beirut, Madrid, London, and China. He continued to write poetry. He wrote many love poems, like "My Lover Asks Me":

My lover asks me:
"What is the difference between me and the sky?"
The difference, my love,
Is that when you laugh,
I forget about the sky.


His wife was killed in Beirut in 1982 by a bomb set off by pro-Iranian guerillas during the Lebanese civil war. He was devastated, and he blamed "the entire Arab world" for her death. Qabbani left Beirut, moved to Europe, and never remarried.

He continued to be a prolific poet, publishing about 40 volumes over the course of his 50 years of writing. He died from a heart attack at the age of 75.


He wrote:

Light is more important than the lantern,
The poem more important than the notebook,
And the kiss more important than the lips.
My letters to you
Are greater and more important than both of us.
They are the only documents
Where people will discover
Your beauty
And my madness.

[princessofcairo]

And when the sky laughs..?



I don't normally dig poetry, but I can definitely get behind this shit. It's good! Thanks for sharing, Geoff.

[Gazoo]

This was wonderful, Geoff; thanks.  Qabbani reminds me of the romantic poems of Rumi, who held great sway over me all through college.

Funny that you start a thread on poetry this weekend, btw: the subject's come up in my world in a big way recently.  A young man I've been gushing about in recent weeks is taking a poetry class, and as a result he and I have been sharing ideas and quotes.  I lent him Eliot's Four Quartets and Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet.  He's already enamored of the former and showed me his notebook where he jotted down several of his favorite lines so far (e.g., "for the roses / Had the look of flowers that are looked at").

[RGMike]

"for the roses / Had the look of flowers that are looked at"

is that where Joni got that album title?

[ggould]

"for the roses / Had the look of flowers that are looked at"

is that where Joni got that album title?

I believe there was some project Mingus wanted to do re: Four Quartets back when Joni and he collaborated.

Yes, we all steal from Eliot, but if you're referring to "For the Roses," I guess you'd have to ask her.  It's not that Eliot-specific.  There's the Kentucky Derby "Run for the roses" phrase too, among many others.

[ggould]

when somebody calls after ten p.m.
and you live in wisconsin
and you're snug in your bed

then all's I can tell you
somebody better be missing
somebody better had a baby
or somebody better be dead

by Bruce Dethlefsen