{"id":14825,"date":"2016-08-09T08:23:45","date_gmt":"2016-08-09T12:23:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/?p=14825"},"modified":"2016-07-24T05:25:21","modified_gmt":"2016-07-24T09:25:21","slug":"mahmoud-darwishs-identity-card-on-the-anniversary-of-his-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/mahmoud-darwishs-identity-card-on-the-anniversary-of-his-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Mahmoud Darwish’s “Identity Card” on the Anniversary of his Death"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n

Mahmoud Darwish<\/i>: photo by Dar Al Hayat, n.d.; image edit by AnomalousNYC, 11 August 2008<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i><\/div>\n
Put it on record.<\/div>\n
……..I am an Arab<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And the number of my card is fifty thousand
\nI have eight children
\nAnd the ninth is due after summer.
\nWhat’s there to be angry about?Put it on record.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n

I am an Arab<\/p>\n

Working with comrades of toil in a quarry.
\nI have eight children
\nFor them I wrest the loaf of bread,
\nThe clothes and exercise books
\nFrom the rocks
\nAnd beg for no alms at your door,<\/div>\n

Lower not myself at your doorstep.
\nWhat’s there to be angry about?<\/p>\n

Put it on record.<\/div>\n

I am an Arab.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
I am a name without a title,
\nPatient in a country where everything
\nLives in a whirlpool of anger.<\/div>\n

My roots
\nTook hold before the birth of time
\nBefore the burgeoning of the ages,
\nBefore cypress and olive trees,
\nBefore the proliferation of weeds.<\/p>\n

My father is from the family of the plough<\/div>\n

Not from highborn nobles.<\/p>\n

And my grandfather was a peasant<\/div>\n

Without line or genealogy.<\/p>\n

My house is a watchman’s hut<\/div>\n

Made of sticks and reeds.<\/p>\n

Does my status satisfy you?<\/div>\n

I am a name without a surname.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Put it on record.<\/div>\n

I am an Arab.<\/p>\n

Color of hair: jet black.
\nColor of eyes: brown.
\nMy distinguishing features:<\/div>\n

On my head the ‘iqal cords over a keffiyeh
\nScratching him who touches it.<\/p>\n

My address:<\/div>\n

I’m from a village, remote, forgotten,
\nIts streets without name
\nAnd all its men in the fields and quarry.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

What’s there to be angry about?<\/p>\n

Put it on record.<\/div>\n

I am an Arab.<\/p>\n

You stole my forefathers’ vineyards<\/div>\n

And land I used to till,
\nI and all my children,
\nAnd you left us and all my grandchildren
\nNothing but these rocks.
\nWill your government be taking them too
\nAs is being said?<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
So!<\/div>\n

Put it on record at the top of page one:
\nI don’t hate people,
\nI trespass on no one’s property.<\/p>\n

And yet, if I were to become hungry<\/div>\n

I shall eat the flesh of my usurper.
\nBeware, beware of my hunger
\nAnd of my anger!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Mahmoud Darwish (13 March 1941-9 August 2008): Identity Card<\/i>, from Leaves of Olives<\/i>, 196<\/b>4; English translation by Denys Johnson-Davies<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mahmoud Darwish: photo by Dar Al Hayat, n.d.; image edit by AnomalousNYC, 11 August 2008 \u00a0 Put it on record. ……..I am an Arab And the number of my card is fifty thousand I...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,91],"tags":[500],"class_list":["post-14825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-palestine","category-poetry","tag-mahmoud-darwish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14825"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14827,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14825\/revisions\/14827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}