Search Results For “ al-Sayyab ” 8 articles

The great Iraqi poet Badr Shakir al-Sayyab died fifty years ago today, on December 24, 1964. During his short life, Sayyab changed the language and form of Arabic poetry for good: in part, by breaking centuries` old meters and remaking the rhythms of verse; in part, by engaging intensely with a ..

I remember the village winter, where drops of light came sprinkling
Through the gaps in the clouds, like melodies
Sliding between the strings of an instrument set atremble by the darkness
It had sung before--in the morning...why am I being so calculating?...as a child I would simp..

From the new room, my bier
calls on me to write a poem.
So I write
what’s in my blood, and I cross out
until the unruly idea gives in.
My new room
is spacious, more spacious than my grave.
If fatigue descends over
wakefulness, sleep is sweeter—
sprin..

[This poem is purported to the be the last Sayyab composed during his life. We each translated it independently. Here, we present the two results, side by side. Between them and beyond them somewhere lies the beauty of the original.]

1. A Crutch in Hell

I continue to..

[Sayyab`s correspondence contains some of his most profound statements on poetry, modernity and contemporary politics of the era. Here, we present to you three letters, addressed to Suhayl Idris, Yusuf al-Khal, and Adonis, respectively.]

3/25/195..

[Badr Shakir al-Sayyab (1926-1964), one of Iraq’s most important modern poets and a pioneer of modern Arabic poetry, died fifty years ago today.]

Two Poems

[”A Profile from the Archives“ is a series published by Jadaliyya in both Arabic and English in cooperation with the Lebanese newspape..

Whorehouse

By Badr Shakir al-Sayyab