Month: February 2014

Jacques Taroni, Ciao, l’Ami!

Just learned this morning that Jacques Taroni, the masterful “réalisateur” (producer/director) at France Culture has passed away. It came as a shock as Jacques seemed indestructible, his energy level even in his seventies way beyond any 30-something’s. At an age when most Frenchmen have been in retirement for years cultivating their onions, roses or home-made wines, Jacques was till working constantly & a rhythm only the most energetic youngster … Read more Jacques Taroni, Ciao, l’Ami!

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Sappho Translated

A week ago — on the 22 February to be accurate — I posted the original Greek version of the recently rediscovered poem by Sappho addressing/chiding her brother, without the rather stiff academic translation that accompanied the poem. I suggested that I’d be interested in a better translation and — no major surprise, really (I had hopes that he would take the bait), though a very pleasant one — poet & … Read more Sappho Translated

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The Eternal Refugee by Iyad Hayatleh

Via Electronic Intifada, posted by Sarah Irving on Mon, 02/24/2014 – 23:00 : Iyad Hayatleh, a Palestinian born and raised in Syria, has posted footage of his moving one-man performance The Eternal Refugee, recorded at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland in October 2013. The show reflects on life in Yarmouk refugee camp, where, according to Hayatleh, “the scent of Galilean thyme mingled with Damascus jasmine” and Palestinians and Syrians lived side-by-side. But, as he … Read more The Eternal Refugee by Iyad Hayatleh

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Sappho Criticizes Her Brother

Recently two as yet unknown poems by Sappho were discovered, one of which, btw, confirms our man Herodotus — the father of prose — as a better historian than he is usually given credit for by the champions of Thucydides (i.e. historians in the employ of the state that won.) Indeed, Herodotus spoke of the so-called “brother poem” a poem in which Sappho criticized her brother Charaxos or his … Read more Sappho Criticizes Her Brother

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Unsi al-Haj (1937-2014)

Unsi al-Hajj was one of the major avant-garde voices in the Lebanese, and more widely, the Middle East poetry renaissance. He was connected with the major avant-garde journal Shi’ir (Poetry) core to the poetry revival of the 50s & 60s, & is maybe best known for popularizing the prose poem. Adonis wrote in his The Music of the Blue Whale: “I did not write prose poems in the exact sense … Read more Unsi al-Haj (1937-2014)

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Poetry, ‘A More Serious Crime Than Murder’

Once again from the Arabic Literature (in English) website: Poetry, ‘A More Serious Crime Than Murder’ BY MLYNXQUALEY on FEBRUARY 11, 2014 • ( 1 ) It hasn’t been a good few weeks for Arabic-writing poets. In Qatar, Muhammad al-Ajami remains in prison. In Iran, poet Hashem Shaabani, who published both in Persian and in Arabic, was  executed for being an enemy of God and the state, according to rights groups. In Egypt, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information … Read more Poetry, ‘A More Serious Crime Than Murder’

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Current Lebanese Literature Feature

The always interesting online Pakistani literary magazine The Missing Slate has just published it’s latest issue focusing on Literature from Lebanon, including work by Elias Khoury, Etel Adnan, Wadih Saadeh, Abbas Beydoun, Alexandra Chreiteh & others. You can check it our here. Below, the opening paras of the editors’…  …introduction to the Lebanese literary feature By Marcia Lynx Qualey amd Yasmina Jraissati Literary traditions from the area we now call Lebanon … Read more Current Lebanese Literature Feature

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Stephen Kessler on Wanda Coleman

My old West Coast friend Stephen Kessler just brought my attention to his lovely poetryflash obituary for Wanda Coleman, & given that here on the East Coast there was little notice of her passing (shame on you, New York Times! — though we did have a lovely small memorial gathering with Bob Holman, Patricia Spears Jones, Lee Anne Brown, Nicole Peyrafitte, Julie Patton, & a few more) I asked … Read more Stephen Kessler on Wanda Coleman

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A Celebration

  CALENDAR LISTING: A Celebration of Pierre Joris—poet, translator, performance artist, and UAlbany Professor Emeritus—will feature three events on Wednesday, March 5, 2014 in the Standish Room, Science Library, on the University at Albany’s uptown campus. The events will include a panel discussion on Joris’ works at 2:00 p.m.; a conversation with Joris at 4:15 p.m.; and a reading by Joris at 8:00 p.m. The events are cosponsored by … Read more A Celebration

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Matt Taibbi: The Vampire Squid Strikes Again

This is a very insightful piece of investigative journalism — in an area unhappily too recondite for the major media to do much about (unless those major media, being all owned by big corporations who are in bed with the banks, purposefully stay away from such matters? A tripartite conspiracy between banks, industrial corporations & media corporations? Call me paranoid — but, as William Burroughs used to say: “A … Read more Matt Taibbi: The Vampire Squid Strikes Again

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