Poet of the Week from Morocco: Muhammed Bennis

Muhammed Bennis was born in Fes in 1948.  He has published eleven books of poetry, 4 books of essays and has translated books from French into Arabic.  He currently lectures at the College of Literature and Humanities in Rabat, and is the director of the House of Poetry in Morocco.

I love his line in the poem below: Love is the mood of similiar souls.













Love is Eternity's River

Nothing but rivulets
communicating,
this is love.
I am the one who says
the parts of various selves become alike,
who says, wthin opposites harmony lies.
I have tried this and seen that,
so take what you know
about me and about women.
Love is the mood of similiar souls,
the secret of the collar around your neck,
the secret on vanishing in you.
O self
of lightweight worlds
I am the one who says,
what has taken hold of the self
will only perish with death, and you.
Fly high, high
into tattooed space, strive
with your dove collar,
long for the calling of water.
O self
that's how you are
one cloud nudged by another.

Translated from Arabic by Fady Joudah.

FUUO Past Poets of the Week:
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/05/african-poets-of-week-compilation.html

Some of my favorite poetry books: