Thank you Harry, I'm sure you're right -- I've noticed that Japanese poetry is popular in France, there are a lot of anthologies and translations available.
The Arabic poem, in particular the reference to vineyards and clusters (of grapes? or something else?), put me in mind of a gloriously long entry titled 'Arabic poetry' in the Oxford Companion to Wine, which goes into a lot of detail on early Islamic poetry, in particular on the Sufi poets such as Abu Nuwas and the use of wine as a sexual metaphor. (I am sure there are better and more academic sources on early Arabic poetry, but this was an entirely unexpected encounter!)
It may be pushing it, but can that poem be read as post-coital?
Hi Joseph, this is James, editor of Interpret. I haven't spoken to Kareem, the poem's translator, about this specific image, but if you'll let me add my two cents, I'm not certain that the poem is intended as a sexual image.
In the context of the larger submission from which this and another poem were selected, it seemed clear that Darwish was referring principally to national rather than personal exhaustion. If there is a reference to the illicit nature of alcohol, which of course the vast majority of the poem's Arabic-language audience refrain from, I'd more closely associated it with Israel's founding myth of 'greening the desert': the fruits of the Negev denied altogether.
Thanks for your response to the poem and I hope you'll enjoy the rest of the issue, which, as Victoria says, can be read for free online.
This is a very generous review, Victoria, and I appreciate you spreading the word about the magazine. I was proud to have published the work of Colin Bramwell and Najwan Darwish - as an editor, these things feel like a steal - and it was kind of you to point out my own work with Juan Cristóbal Romero, who is with good reason revered in his native Chile.
It's a fair point that you make about reviews in the magazine, which I'll try to address in future issues. You're right that more space should be made for informed and combative criticism, which is partly why I've enjoyed this blog so much.
I rather think you mean Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902), the haiku and tanka poet and theorist. Here’s one of his poems, topical for 4 July in the UK:
haru no hi ya
hito nani mo senu
komura kana
it's a lovely day
people are doing nothing
in all the small towns
(tr. Harry Gilonis)
Thank you Harry, I'm sure you're right -- I've noticed that Japanese poetry is popular in France, there are a lot of anthologies and translations available.
Following up on this again, I notice there's a rather engaging translation of one of his poems in the current Paris Review (available online for subscribers here: https://www.theparisreview.org/poetry/8297/from-a-drop-of-ink-masaoka-shiki )
The Arabic poem, in particular the reference to vineyards and clusters (of grapes? or something else?), put me in mind of a gloriously long entry titled 'Arabic poetry' in the Oxford Companion to Wine, which goes into a lot of detail on early Islamic poetry, in particular on the Sufi poets such as Abu Nuwas and the use of wine as a sexual metaphor. (I am sure there are better and more academic sources on early Arabic poetry, but this was an entirely unexpected encounter!)
It may be pushing it, but can that poem be read as post-coital?
Hi Joseph, this is James, editor of Interpret. I haven't spoken to Kareem, the poem's translator, about this specific image, but if you'll let me add my two cents, I'm not certain that the poem is intended as a sexual image.
In the context of the larger submission from which this and another poem were selected, it seemed clear that Darwish was referring principally to national rather than personal exhaustion. If there is a reference to the illicit nature of alcohol, which of course the vast majority of the poem's Arabic-language audience refrain from, I'd more closely associated it with Israel's founding myth of 'greening the desert': the fruits of the Negev denied altogether.
Thanks for your response to the poem and I hope you'll enjoy the rest of the issue, which, as Victoria says, can be read for free online.
Thanks so much for weighing in James, and to Joseph for his original comment. Love the Oxford Companion to Wine reference!
This is a very generous review, Victoria, and I appreciate you spreading the word about the magazine. I was proud to have published the work of Colin Bramwell and Najwan Darwish - as an editor, these things feel like a steal - and it was kind of you to point out my own work with Juan Cristóbal Romero, who is with good reason revered in his native Chile.
It's a fair point that you make about reviews in the magazine, which I'll try to address in future issues. You're right that more space should be made for informed and combative criticism, which is partly why I've enjoyed this blog so much.
James
Editor, Interpret
Thanks so much for replying in person James! Great to have you here.
ill be rereading the whole archive meanwhile. u r doing admirable work, victoria. best wishes for the future