FAO Quotables

"But being right, even morally right, isn't everything. It is also important to be competent, to be consistent, and to be knowledgeable. It's important for your soldiers and diplomats to speak the language of the people you want to influence. It's important to understand the ethnic and tribal divisions of the place you hope to assist."
-Anne Applebaum

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Poet of the Week:Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi from Sudan









The poet of the week hails from Sudan.  His biography is at the link below.  I've included several of his poems which are incredible (I also include the original of one in arabic).  The link has about 20 of his poems which are thoughtful and often require numerous readings to just begin to understand them (the best types of poems in my opinion). 

http://www.poetrytranslation.org/poets/Al-Saddiq_Al-Raddi



لهاثْ

by الصادق الرضي

كأنَّها تَقتربُ من البابِ
تسمعُ دقات قلبِكَ
أو
كأنك في انتظارِها
تَحْضُرُ طيورُ الضُّحى
وتَصْطَفُّ على النافذةْ
........
ساعةٌ من الصَّبرِ

غابةٌ من الهديلِ والشقشقةْ.


BREATHLESS


Your heart thumps —
as if she were already
at your door.

Or — as if expecting her —
all the birds in the midday sky
arrive to clamor at your window.

… … … … … … … … … … …

An age of patience.
A forest of fluttering.


SIESTA

A shared tomb
a burnt corpse
as you dream

I make tea for you
from what little we have
with your graceful preparations
We dread
being apart
We long
to become ashes


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

Some of my favorite poetry books:

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