Three Poems of Love and Desire by Nouri Al-Jarrah
Three poems of love and desire, composed in Beirut during the darkest days of the civil war, and war within war, by exiled Syrian poet Nouri al-Jarrah.
Nouri Al-Jarrah
Nouri al-Jarrah is a Syrian poet, prose writer and journalist. Born in 1956 in Damascus, he moved to Beirut in 1981, then to Cyprus and finally to London in 1986, where he has worked as a journalist for several Arab newspapers and magazines. Al-Jarrah considers himself in exile since the early \\\’80s. He is known as one of the most influential contemporary poets of the Arabic-speaking world and has founded several literary magazines. His poetry has been published in 16 collections, many of which have been awarded prizes in various parts of the Arab world, including The Boy (1982), Ode to a Voice (1990), Hamlet’s Gardens (2003), and Noah’s Despair (2014). His poems present his vision of poetry and life, to which he has lent a unique voice over the years. His verse leans on a variety of cultural sources, with a particular way of focusing on mythology, folktales, and legends while reflecting on metaphysical considerations and deep, existential questions—most recently, the Syrian uprising and the resulting refugee crisis. Jarrah’s literature has been translated into English, Persian, French, Spanish, Greek, Dutch, Polish, Turkish and Italian.