Refugee Dreams — Three Poems by Meral Şimşek
A poet whose writings and identity are contested by her own government reads three poems from her book "Refugee Dreams" in the original Turkish.
Poetry
Etel Adnan’s Sun and Sea: In Remembrance
Art critic Arie Amaya-Akkermans summons the gods of art and poetry as he reviews the life work of the late polymath Etel Adnan, 1925-2021.
Poem: An Allegory for Our Times
Jenny Pollak, a poet in Australia, captures the unrelenting menace of a changing world.
Faraj Bayrakdar, Once Syria’s Prisoner, is Freedom’s Poet
India Hixon Radfar reviews the newly-translated collection of poetry from a former prisoner in Syria.
Poetry: Mohammed El-Kurd’s Rifqa Reviewed
India Hixon Radfar reviews the first collection of poetry from Palestinian firebrand Mohammed El-Kurd.
Three Poems by Kashmiri American Bard Agha Shahid Ali
Agha Shahid Ali Tonight Pale hands I loved beside the Shalimar —Laurence Hope Where are you now? Who lies beneath your spell tonight? Whom else from… Continue reading Three Poems by Kashmiri American Bard Agha Shahid Ali
Poem: Bombs Do Not Discriminate
A young Gazan student who finished high school in Norway and looks forward to university in the US finds himself under the bombs in Gaza in May 2021.
Poem: Letter to the Americans
If a Gazan were to write an open letter to the Americans, whose government helps underwrite Israel's war machine, this is what it might say.
Four Poems from Mosab Abu Toha
Mosab Abu Toha divides his time between a life in the United States and a life in Gaza. In May of this year, he found himself under the bombs.
The World Grows Blackthorn Walls
A new poem by Sholeh Wolpé from the forthcoming collection, Abacus of Loss, University of Arkansas Press 2022.
Two Poems for Truth by Ammiel Alcalay
Two new poems by Ammiel Alcalay, "Kashoggi or Kashog-ji?" and "Translation Theory", explore versions of the truth.
Poet in Pakistan: the Flamboyant Carolyn Kizer
Biographer Marian Janssen reveals the big, brash, blonde feminist writer and poet Carolyn Kizer, who fascinated and shocked Pakistanis—and introduced the ghazal to America.
A visual poem from Hala Alyan: Gaza
A spoken word poem from the author of The Twenty-Ninth Year and The Arsonists' City.
Poetic Exploration of Illness Conveys Trauma
I am waiting for the Tunisian American writer Leila Chatti to tell me, in her own words, in her debut collection of poetry, Deluge, about women in Islam, but she is telling me about blood instead.