Full Description
Presented bilingually, this first US publication of Jawdat Fakhreddine—one of the major Lebanese names in modern Arabic poetry—establishes a revolutionary dialogue between international, modernist values and the Arabic tradition. Fakhreddine's unique voice is a breakthrough for the poetic language of his generation—an approach that presents poetry as a beacon, a lighthouse that both opposes and penetrates all forms of darkness.
Stars:
Stars of ours
that did not shine in the shroud of night,
but we took joy in them
when the night was a gloom all around us.
To our children, we write:
We are not your lighthouse.
Do not follow the path we light,
but be your own secrets.
Jawdat Fakhreddine was born in 1953 in a small village in southern Lebanon. A professor of Arabic literature at the Lebanese University in Beirut, he is one of the major Lebanese names in Modern Arabic Poetry, and is considered one of the second generation poets of the modernist movement in the Arab world. He earned an MA in Physics and taught at the high school level for more than 10 years. During this time he published a number of poetry collections and was encouraged by Adonis to work on a PhD in Arabic literature. Fakhreddine intermittently publishes articles and new poems in al-Hayat newspaper, which is an Arab newspaper published in London and distributed worldwide, and in as-Safir, one of the two major Lebanese Newspapers. He writes a weekly article in al-Khaleej newspaper, a widely distributed gulf daily newspaper. He currently lives in Beirut, Lebanon.
Contents
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Three Profiles of Death
Glow
September
Preparation
Foxes
Seas
Do I Take Refuge in Myself
For Yemen
An Evening in Old Sanaa
Elevation
How Long This Day of Mine
There in the Winter
A Lighthouse for the Drowning
Forty
Grass
Distraction
Heavy Essence
Day
Night
Light Pulse
Land
Stars
Bird
My Evening There
The Slanted Balcony
The Sky That Denied Me
Winter's Words
Birds of Regret
Smoke
Dying Directions
