About the Book

In this collection, the poetry is free from traditional meter and rhyme. Its poems adhere to a unity of theme, expressed with the fewest possible words. The poetry avoids the accumulation of words, explanation, and length, striving instead to focus on the human experience at its core.

Take the poem 'The Escape,' for example. It is a four-line poem of only fifteen words, and its subject is 'The Palestinian'—a topic that could fill an epic the length of the Iliad or the Aeneid, or a long ode like the Mu'allaqat. However, the poet forgoes length and focuses on a single idea: the existence of the Palestinian in a place to which they belong, like other people. One is French, another Chinese, and another Iranian or Turkish, each with a recognized existence in a recognized land, where belonging forms the essence of their being.

As for the Palestinian here, they are: 'The Palestinian is one born without a bed, imagination passionately embraces them, and death comes every day.'

- Mohamed Asfour

Category: Arabic Poetry

ISBN: 9789923451229