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I Didn’t Apologize to the Well … Palestinian Peace Poet, Mahmoud Darwish

Palestian Poet, Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008)
Palestinian Poet, Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008)

With the largest number of migrants the world has ever seen – 244 million in 2015 – people who are displaced by exile, violence, poverty and environmental issues resulting from climate change, it’s hard not to think of poets like Darwish who lived or live large portions of their lives in exile from their homelands.

“. . . he says I am from there, I am from here, but I am neither there nor here. I have two names which meet and part… I have two languages, but I have long forgotten— which is the language of my dreams” Mahmoud Darwish’s farewell to Edward Said (1935-2003), professor of literature at Columbia University, a public intellectual and founder of the field of postcolonial studies. Said was educated in the Western Cannon. He was a Palestinian-American born in Mandatory Palestine and a citizen of the United States through his father, Wadie Saïd, a WW 1 U.S. Army Veteran

Born in Mandated Palestine, Mahmoud Darwish has been called a poet of peace in times of war. He was a regarded as the Palestinian national poet. Darwish used Palestine as a metaphor for the loss of Eden, birth and resurrection and he wrote of the anguish of dispossession and exile. He has been described as incarnating and reflecting “the tradition of the political poet in Islam, the man of action whose action is poetry.”

You can hear the lovely lilt of Arabic even in the English translations of this internationally know and recognized award winning poet. His awards included the Ibn Sina Prize, the Lotus prize from the Union of Afro-Asian Writers, France’s Knight of Arts and Belles Lettres medal, and the Prize for Cultural Freedom from the Lannan Foundation.

I didn’t apologize to the well as I passed by it.
I borrowed a cloud from an ancient pine and squeezed it
like an orange. I waited for a mythical white deer.
I instructed my heart in patience: Be neutral, as though
you were not a part of me. Here, good shepherds
stood on air and invented the flute and enticed
mountain partridges into their traps. Here, I saddled
a horse for flight to my personal planets, and flew.
And here, a fortuneteller told me: Beware of asphalt roads
and automobiles, ride on your sigh. Here, I loosened
my shadow and waited. I selected the smallest stone
and stood wakefully by it. I broke apart a myth
and got broken myself. I circled the well until
I flew out of myself to what I’m not. And a voice
from deep in the well spoke to me: This grave
is not yours. And so I apologized. I read verses
from the wise Qur’an and said to the anonymous presence
in the well: Peace be with you and the day
you were killed in the land of peace and with the day
you’ll rise from the well’s darkness
and live…

– Mahmoud Darwish

Darwish has many published collections, which are available through his Amazon page.

Photo credit: Mahmoud Darwish at University of Bethlehem in 2006 by Amer Shomali under CC BY-SA licence.

51hlj5jhdkl-_sx329_bo1204203200_The recommended read for this week is Robert Pinsky’s Singing School, Learning to Write (and Read) Poetry. No rules or recipes here just learning by studying the pros. Charming. Fun.

In making your Amazon purchase through links from this site, you help to support its maintenance.

The WordPlay Shop offers books and other tools especially selected for poets and writers.

THE WORDPLAY SHOP: books, tools and supplies for poets, writers and readers

LITERATURE AND FICTION oo Editor’s Picks oo Award Winners oo NY Times Best Sellers

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SUNDAY ANNOUNCEMENTS: Calls for Submission, Events and Other News and Information

img_2370CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS

Opportunity Knocks

REJECTED POETRY JOURNAL, poetry that doesn’t fit “is a place for those little lost poems that just don’t fit in. Poems that have been rejected a dozen times by even the worst lit mags. Poems that have been rejected by their crush. Poems that barely survived the editing process. Poems that didn’t get finished. Poems that not even the poet believes in. Poems will appear on RPJ intermittently.” This looks like a fledgling publication with a novel idea. It’s a blog type site – nothing wrong with that, by the way – and they’re using Tumblr. I don’t know how many people want to pub “Rejected Poetry” on their list of published poems. Link HERE.

OYSTER RIVER PAGES is preparing for its inaugural issues and invites submissions of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry and visual art through 31 May 2017. Guidelines HERE.

ICON, Kent State University “is a poetry and art magazine that is published once each years, near the end of the spring semester. Submissions welcome from everyone. Details HERE.

ROGUEPOETRY REVIEW, punks write poems publishes four themed issues a year.  The theme for the spring issue is “Revival.” DEADLINES: Spring: January 31, Summer: April 30, Fall: July 31, Winter: October 31. Spring deadline is upon us, so hop to. You can submit electronically. Editors read on a rolling basis.  Details HERE. RoguePoetry Review is published by Punks Write Poems Press, LLC, which has a book publishing arm.

SAN PEDRO RIVER REVIEW publishes twice a year. The next reading period is July 1 – July 31 for poetry.. Details HERE.

GREEN LINDEN PRESS is a digital publication currently accepting submissions of poetry for Issue three, which is scheduled for publication on Solstice 2017. There is a $2.50 reading fee. Details HERE.

IMITATIONS FRUIT LITERARY JOURNAL publishes poetry and visual art. The deadline for the 2017 issue is April 1st. Details HERE.

COMPETITIONS/CONTESTS

HART CRANE MEMORIAL POETRY CONTEST (ICON, Kent State University) invites submission of two previously unpublished poems. Details HERE. The deadline is 4 p.m. on February 1, so hope to if you are interested.  You can submit electronically.

SEQUESTRUM LITERATURE AND ART Editor’s Reprint Awards for Poetry 2017 invites submissions of previously published work through April 30th. The entry fee is $15 and the winners will be announced in August. Winner award is $200 and publication in Sequestrum. Runner-ups are awarded $25 and publication. Details HERE.

EVENTS

ALBANY POETS 

7:00pm – Poetic Vibe
Troy Kitchen, 77 Congress Street, Troy, NY
Poetic Vibe is a weekly Poetry Open Mic with featured local and regional poets hosted by D. Colin in downtown Troy.

7:30pm – Poets Speak Loud – 12th Annual Tom Nattell Memorial Open Mic and Beret Toss
McGeary’s, 4 Clinton Square, Albany, NY
Poets Speak Loud is Albany Poets’ monthly open mic for poetry and spoken word with guest host Dan Wilcox. This month we celebrate the life and work of Tom Nattell and 12 years of Poets Speak Loud.

POETRY SLAM, INC. lists events around the country HERE.

WORLD POETRY DAY is March 31 this year. Detail HERE.

POTPOURRI

THE FREEDOM PRINCIPLE: EXPERIMENT IN ART AND MUSIC. “1965 to Now” exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Philadelphia. This large show links the legacy of avant-garde jazz and experimental music of the late 1960s (particularly within the African American arts scene on the South Side of Chicago) and its influence on contemporary art and culture. It continues until March 19, 2017. HERE is a slide show of the art included in the exhibit.

NANCY MITCHELL], Poet and Painter (by Nin Andrews), part of a series about poets who paint, Best American Poetry

THIS POLITICAL THEORIST PREDICTED THE RISE OF TRUMPISM. HIS NAME WAS HUNTER S. THOMPSON, ,Susan McWilliams in The Nation

FACEBOOK PRIVACY TIPS: How to shre without oversharing, Internet Citizen

A GUIDE TO TWITTER’S PRIVACY SETTINGS, Internet Citizen

NEWS

MORE THAN SIXTY YEARS SINCE ORWELL’S 1984 WAS PUBLISHED and Amazon announced that since the election of the current administration (regime), it has become a best-seller. You can download the dystopian novel that was required high school reading in my day for free HERE. I’m guessing that Orwell would have liked to be proven wrong.

SUNDAY ANNOUNCEMENTS

Submit your event, book launch and other announcements at least fourteen days in advance to thepoetbyday@gmail.com. Publication is subject to editorial discretion.

51hlj5jhdkl-_sx329_bo1204203200_The recommended read for this week is Robert Pinsky’s Singing School, Learning to Write (and Read) Poetry. No rules or recipes here just learning by studying the pros. Charming. Fun.

The WordPlay Shop offers books and other tools especially selected for poets and writers.

THE WORDPLAY SHOP: books, tools and supplies for poets, writers and readers

LITERATURE AND FICTION oo Editor’s Picks oo Award Winners oo NY Times Best Sellers

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Notes on Yesterday’s Phone Conference with Rev. Barber, “The Third Reconstruction: How a Moral Movement is Overcoming the Politics of Division and Fear”

The Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II is president of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, pastor at Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro, North Carolina, and founder of Repairers of the Breach.
The Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II is president of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, pastor at Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro, North Carolina, and founder of Repairers of the Breach.

Yesterday the call went out to clergy and lay leaders for a telephone gathering to discuss the U.S. presidential orders issued during the first week of the new administration, which I notice lately some are calling a “regime.” These orders are efforts to undermine voting rights, encourage racism and sexism, and to punish sanctuary cities.The concern is that if we don’t respond immediately to these threats, they will become the new normal.

The Rev. Dr. William Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP and author of The Third Reconstruction, Catherine Orsborn of Shoulder to Shoulder, Standing with American Muslims: Upholding American Values and Valerie Kaur presented. Valerie is an award-winning filmmaker, civil rights lawyer, media commentator, Sikh activist and interfaith leader who uses storytelling much as we use poetry – for social change.

The emphasis of the discussion was:

  • solidarity,
  • the upholding of American ideals, and
  • rapid response.

The combination of noise on the line and my hearing made it difficult for me to track the entire conversation, but as best I could determine among the encouraged actions were:

  • Frequent phone calls to members of Congress. Numbers for the members of the House of Representatives are HERE. Numbers for the Senate members are HERE.
  • Exercise resistance in our own spheres. Use social media and take part in local resistance efforts.

Rev. Barber said this is a historic moment but not a new moment in terms of extremism and hate and not the worst moment.

“In the great stream of injustice down through the ages, this is not the worst thing we have suffered. To say so is to dishonor those whose lives were dishonored in holocausts, lynchings and Jim Crow [and other human abuses].” 

Nonviolent civil disobedience is encouraged. Rev. Barber advises self-purification, prayer, and fasting to prepare for moral resistance, for nonviolent direct action against immoral public policy agenda at the state and federal levels. Suggestions for these processes are to be found at Repairers of the Breach.

“Now is not a time to wait and see. Now is a time for action.”

Here is a video in which Rev. Barber gives us some background on the Third Reconstruction and its place in history. It’s worth your time. (if you are reading this via an email subscription you will have to link through to the site to view the video) 

RELATED:

The photograph of Rev. Barber and the description below it are from his Amazon page.

51qqbcpwhul-_sx332_bo1204203200_The Third Reconstruction: How a Moral Movement is Overcoming the Politics of Division and Fear by the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II is this week’s recommended read.  If you plan to purchase this book and use the link here it will help to support this site.
Thank you!

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BREAKING NEWS ON THE JUSTICE FRONT: Fellow Americans, please join this national phone call today with Rev. Barber to address recent executive orders

800px-william_barber_at_moral_mondays_rallyJOIN REV. WILLIAM BARBER TODAY at 4 p.m. Eastern Time for immediate response to address the Executive Orders this week that threaten immigrants, refugees, and Muslims, along with new efforts to undermine voting rights and punish sanctuary cities must be met with a powerful and rapid response. TODAY, please join Rev. William Barber and Catherine Orsborn, and other faith leaders at 4 pm ET/1 pm PT for a national call on what we can all do to resist and move forward.

51qqbcpwhul-_sx332_bo1204203200_Call in to (319) 527-2731 Access Code: 150728.
In the meantime, we put together this Rapid Response Guide for People of Faith & Moral Conscience with resources from partners on how to prepare for moral resistance, call your representatives, post on social media, and more. Share it. We will continue to update this guide as events unfold.
In #MoralResistance and #RevolutionaryLove. (Go to those links on Facebook. They’re public so you don’t need to be on Facebook to access them.)

Photo of Rev. Barber leading a Moral Monday gather courtesy of twbuckner under CC BY SA 2.0 License