to
Love a
Palestinian
Woman
Ehab Lotayef’s book of poems in English and Arabic.
Lotayef is a Canadian writer of Egyptian origin. Lotayef poems are political. He writes about injustice and he writes evocatively.
The volume includes his Arabic poems translated into English. Even in translations, they still manage to convey the sense of raw emotions.
Sheikh Imam’s Last Song
Truth is lost
Sold cheap
Controlled
Lies in abundance
Values disappearing
No feelings
No conscience
Words become
like waves of mist
blurring visions
Another example...
Mawaal
a traditional colloquial poem
The first: a sigh
The second: a sigh
The third: a sigh
The first is Cairo
The second is Montreal
The third is Palestine
The first is Cairo: too liberal they said I was
The second is Montreal: conservative, they call me here
The third is Palestine: no one is free over there
The first is Cairo: too liberal they said I was, so I left
The second is Montreal: conservative they call me here,
yet I stay
The third is Palestine: no one is free over there, still...
they resist, and will prevail
The first is Cairo
The second is Montreal
The third is Palestine
The first: a sigh
The second: a sigh
The third: a cry
The highlight of the evening was Maryem and Ernie Tollar’s fluent attempt to put Lotayef’s poems to music.
Image: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/152/431770744_6e02d27de9_o.jpg
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