{"id":7694,"date":"2022-03-28T00:21:24","date_gmt":"2022-03-27T22:21:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/?p=7694"},"modified":"2022-12-17T11:03:38","modified_gmt":"2022-12-17T09:03:38","slug":"mohamed-metwallis-a-song-by-the-aegean-sea-reviewed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/mohamed-metwallis-a-song-by-the-aegean-sea-reviewed\/","title":{"rendered":"Mohamed Metwalli’s “A Song by the Aegean Sea” Reviewed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
The Aegean Sea on the coast of Turkey.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n


\nA Song by the Aegean Sea<\/em>, poetry by Mohamed Metwalli
\nTranslated by Gretchen McCullough and the author
\nLaertes Books<\/a> (May 2022)
\nISBN 9781942281269<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sherine Elbanhawy<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a world where it is increasingly difficult to travel, whether because of the pandemic, financial constraints, or the relentlessness of our routines and daily responsibilities, Mohamed Metwalli\u2019s poetry collection A Song by the Aegean Sea<\/em> becomes the perfect form of escapism.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A Song by the Aegean Sea is published by Laertes Books<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Transporting and transplanting the reader to captivating Izmir, his words bring the cosmopolitan Turkish city to life, each vibrant scene teeming with nuance and detail: gypsies selling flowers alongside the protesters in the poem \u201cOne Flew East, One Flew West, One Flew Over the Izmir Bay\u201d:<\/p>\n

The gypsy seller of national flags
\nWished to join the demonstration<\/p>\n

or the roving musicians stopping to play soccer:<\/p>\n

You belched roving musicians
\nPlaying ball in their leisure time
\nLeaning their instruments
\nAgainst the wall of your exhausted lung<\/p>\n

and the mussel sellers in a heated duet with the State:<\/p>\n

As for the mussel sellers
\nChased by the municipality
\nThey blew safely out of your nostrils
\nWith the smoke of tobacco.<\/p>\n

We walk beside him through the streets of Izmir, listening to his conversations and observing through his eyes:<\/p>\n

An orange moon
\nAbove the Aegean Sea
\nViewed by a couple of tourists coming from Egypt
\nFrom a hotel balcony
\nWho never believed\u2014till this moment\u2014What they had beheld!<\/p>\n

This is Metwalli\u2019s fourth collection, and it is beautifully captured by Gretchen McCullough\u2019s careful and perceptive translation. In her introduction, she describes the poet traveller as a \u201csinger of the Aegean song who yearns to become part of the scene. (\u2026) It\u2019s an impressionistic yet surreal canvas from a stranger\u2019s point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n

I become enamored with the Izmiri landscape, and I am not alone; the picturesque coastal mountain bathed in sunlight moves the gypsy into song: \u201cThe gypsy rose-seller as well\/Gazed at it\/And burst, out of the blue, into a melancholy song.\u201d As well, memories stir, \u201cHow reminiscent of Beirut is tonight! Pins of lights adorn the coastal mountain\u201d and introspection prevails, in “Who Dares Approach”:<\/p>\n

And remember the word of Gibran
\nWhence, an Egyptian poet stood
\nIn front of his tomb\u2014on the mountain top\u2014in Beirut
\nGetting the goose bumps
\nSince the spirit of Gibran was infused into his veins
\nTelling him some of the old parables.<\/p>\n

And, in the same poem, ghosts encroach:<\/p>\n

Yet the words of Hipponax
\nKept hovering above the place
\nAccompanied by his ghost
\nAnd ready to assault the veins of any poet
\nWho dares approach!<\/p>\n

The poems are in chronological order, with one 2014 January winter sandwiched between two June summers (2013 and 2014). All the poems emanate from the poet\u2019s stays at the Izmir Palace Hotel, where his viewpoint, interactions, and observations are almost voyeuristic, in \u201cOccupied by the Sea\u201d:<\/p>\n

When he met her between the two palm trees
\nAnd kissed her beneath the hotel
\nWhen she glanced above
\nAnd the Bohemian poet, from his balcony, smiled to her
\nAnd she smiled back.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Mohamed Metwalli was born in Cairo in 1970 and received a B.A. in English Literature from Cairo University in 1992, the same year he won the Lebanese publishing award, the Yussef El-Khal Prize, for his poetry collection Once upon a Time<\/em>. He was poet-in-residence at the University of Chicago in 1998. His collections include The Story the People Tell in the Harbour<\/em> (1998), The Lost Promenades<\/em> (2010), and A Song by the Aegean Sea<\/em> (2015). He compiled and co-edited an anthology of offbeat Egyptian poetry entitled Angry Voices<\/em>. Gretchen McCullough is an American writer and translator who grew up in Texas and lives in Cairo, where she is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Rhetoric and Composition at the American University in Cairo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\nWe meet the Greek Smyrna, today Izmir, through its living inhabitants, its unsung heroes, the restaurant waiters, street vendors, construction workers, gypsies, tourists, and even its birds (seagulls, ravens, larks, one dove, and one hoopoe), \u201cTo the carcass of a dove\/Struck by lightning in front of my very eyes\/Devoured, later, by the raven and the seagull.\u201d The street cats and dogs are sometimes described as fat or stout and pepper the poems, interacting with the humans, the Aegean Sea, and the city at all hours of the day and night. The dog\u2019s song, \u201cThe coastal dogs howled\/Steering their heads towards the sky,\u201d contrasts with the lazy lounging cats, \u201cWho spend half of their time\/Devouring the leftover fish from the restaurants\/Or from the fishermen\/And the other half, sleeping\/Or licking their bodies.\u201d There are even poems dedicated to each, \u201cThe Smile of a Dog\u201d and \u201cThe Cats of Izmir.\u201d<\/p>\n

A palpable levity can be found in several of the poems, for instance, \u201cA woman in her white wedding gown\/Wails in front of the sea\/After the groom jumps into the water for his life\/Nothing of him later appeared but a black smoking suit\/Afloat with an exclamation point on top!\u201d and Metwalli\u2019s tone is often playful: \u201cA raven alighted on my table\/Pecked at my pistachios and tasted my wine\/Then gave me a quick reproachful look.\u201d<\/p>\n

Love is a theme, a thread that runs through Izmir. \u201cTwo lovers froze under a shrub,\u201d and Metwalli captures many intimate moments, \u201cTwo lovers in a seaside restaurant\/Clinked their glasses\/To an illicit night,\u201d as if simply being in the city enables these moments to occur, \u201cAnd the lovers who sheltered\/Under the shade of a shrub\/Away from the sun and the curious eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The orange moon also recurs, \u201cWho viewed an orange moon the day before\u2014Gradually dimming into utter darkness till it disappeared\u2014\u201d with two poems dedicated to the moon in general, \u201cA Raven, A Moon\u201d and \u201cA Smothered Moon\u201d:<\/p>\n

Oh my, oh my!
\nWhere did my moon go
\nBehind the black clouds
\nOr did you not know?<\/p>\n

Thus sang us the gypsy
\nFor a pair of liras
\nThat night, we,
\nWaxing lyrical,
\nAlmost jumped into the sea,
\nA smothered moon
\nFor which the farmers in my country
\nKept beating the drums, banging the pots
\nUntil it glowed<\/p>\n

Is it so, you Aegean Sea,
\nThat your moon suddenly vanishes,
\nSmothered,
\nBehind a black cloud?!<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a sensuality to the poems when Metwalli describes the body:<\/p>\n

Then, the city was teeming within your body
\nYou disgorged a few beauties
\nSashaying along the coast
\nIn skimpy shorts<\/p>\n

and in the many moments of affection, embraces, and warmth:<\/p>\n

In the night of Izmir
\nGiving him a deep kiss
\nLeaning back with her body.<\/p>\n

The Aegean Sea is mentioned in practically every poem; it is the lifeline of the city and of the poet. Metwalli questions, \u201cIs it in the Aegean Sea that souls get fathomed?\u201d<\/p>\n

As readers, we search for the answer in the sounds and literal places \u2014 the seafront, the park, caf\u00e9s, restaurants \u2014 and figuratively, in \u201cthe bed of the sea\u201d and \u201cthe dark sea.\u201d The poet wants the reader to understand that all answers lie in the sea\u2019s warped, out-of-sync, blurriness, that \u201cthe sea is enough.\u201d \u201cThe page of the sea blends\u201d with his words, and \u201cthe sea penetrates your pores\/You sweat in beads of salt,\u201d and he advises the reader to relinquish their body to the sea, \u201cYou still sit on your balcony\/Between the two palm trees\/In front of the water\/And there comes the sea to absorb you\/To draw the best out of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is an invitation into his surreal world, where life exists in a different dimension, a different color, beating to a different tune, \u201cDon\u2019t resist the sea when it occupies you\u2014I know someone who tried to resist the occupation of the sea\/Searching for an alleged independence, He ended up depressed and drowned\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

I feel swallowed whole by Metwalli\u2019s words, and rebirthed in Izmir, surrounded by bustling tourists, larks, and lovers, in thrall to the city\u2019s magical charm and its resounding sea, forever indebted to its orange moon.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sherine Elbanhawy finds that Mohamed Metwalli\u2019s newly-translated poetry collection is the perfect form of escapism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":7695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,51],"tags":[235,374,567,755,925,1677,1734],"coauthors":[2146],"class_list":["post-7694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","category-tmr-weekly","tag-arab-poet","tag-cairo","tag-egyptian-poet","tag-greek","tag-izmir","tag-the-aegean-sea","tag-turkey","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMohamed Metwalli's "A Song by the Aegean Sea" Reviewed - The Markaz Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sherine Elbanhawy finds that Mohamed Metwalli\u2019s newly-translated poetry collection is the perfect form of escapism.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/mohamed-metwallis-a-song-by-the-aegean-sea-reviewed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mohamed Metwalli's "A Song by the Aegean Sea" Reviewed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sherine Elbanhawy finds that Mohamed Metwalli\u2019s newly-translated poetry collection is the perfect form of escapism.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/mohamed-metwallis-a-song-by-the-aegean-sea-reviewed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Markaz Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-27T22:21:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-17T09:03:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/The-Aegean-Sea-on-the-coast-of-Turkey-the-markaz-review.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"788\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sherine Elbanhawy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sherine Elbanhawy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/mohamed-metwallis-a-song-by-the-aegean-sea-reviewed\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/mohamed-metwallis-a-song-by-the-aegean-sea-reviewed\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"janinedigiovanni\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c964e86e608bd11ec814bb5b91e2d567\"},\"headline\":\"Mohamed Metwalli’s “A Song by the Aegean Sea” Reviewed\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-27T22:21:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-17T09:03:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/mohamed-metwallis-a-song-by-the-aegean-sea-reviewed\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1391,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/mohamed-metwallis-a-song-by-the-aegean-sea-reviewed\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/03\\\/The-Aegean-Sea-on-the-coast-of-Turkey-the-markaz-review.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Arab poet\",\"Cairo\",\"Egyptian poet\",\"Greek\",\"Izmir\",\"The Aegean Sea\",\"Turkey\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Book Reviews\",\"TMR Weekly\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/mohamed-metwallis-a-song-by-the-aegean-sea-reviewed\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/mohamed-metwallis-a-song-by-the-aegean-sea-reviewed\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/mohamed-metwallis-a-song-by-the-aegean-sea-reviewed\\\/\",\"name\":\"Mohamed Metwalli's \\\"A Song by the Aegean Sea\\\" Reviewed - 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