The Story of a People : An Anthology of Palestinian Poets Within the Green-Lines- Edited and Translated by Jamal Assadi- With Assistance From Simon Jacobs

The Story of a People is the sixth in a series of volumes on Palestinian writers who compel into unity the contradictions of being Israeli citizens as well as sons and daughters of the Palestinian people. This volume contains the works of forty poets, and offers a variety of themes, styles, contexts, imagery, tones, and language. The poets, arranged alphabetically, depict a faithful picture of the various aspects of Arab life among what is called, paradoxically, Israeli-Palestinian societies. They present new arenas where opposing factors harmoniously join to struggle for dignity, freedom, and justice. Readers of this volume will encounter serious poems strewn with light and humorous themes and poems of sensual and spiritual love interwoven with poems of the unusual and political. These Israeli- Palestinian poets’ distinctive flavor emerges from their ability to challenge norms, fight oppression, and burst open closed doors to tell their own stories – the stories of their plight, alienation, marginalization, and hopes and dreams – in a new magnified voice, first to their community, then to their people and nation, then to their country, and now to the wider English-speaking public. Contents......Page 9 Acknowledgments xv......Page 17 Foreword xvii......Page 19 Introduction 1......Page 21 November Muffles his Face......Page 38 The Pulse of Cosmic Rhythm......Page 40 Death Says to You......Page 41 The Desire’s Squint......Page 42 I Teach You Now......Page 44 The Princes of Morning......Page 46 A Weeping Song in the Age of Challenge......Page 48 A Meeting at a Neutral Airport......Page 49 The Fear......Page 51 ‘Abdullah and Mudallaleh......Page 53 We Emerged from an Era in which the Youth Remained in Stone......Page 55 When the Inferno Studies the Iliad’s Elegies......Page 56 The Entrance......Page 57 Permanency......Page 58 Acre......Page 59 Yabus......Page 60 The Generation of the Catastrophe......Page 61 Strangers!......Page 62 The Missing Poem......Page 63 The Lost Voice of Paradise......Page 65 The Core of Righteousness......Page 66 A Tablet for Dream Prevention......Page 69 Sketches on the Water......Page 70 The Sun’s Memory......Page 72 A Sudden She-Visitor......Page 73 If you reveal your love or you reveal it not!......Page 75 Like Two Ripe Figs......Page 77 Sixty......Page 81 The Summit of What?......Page 82 My Horse......Page 83 A Dream if only Achieved......Page 85 An Exciting Question......Page 86 Silence Torn by Rain......Page 87 The Last Word of Emrei Al-Qays......Page 89 Coyness......Page 91 In the Shades of Paradise......Page 92 A Nightmare on my Chest......Page 93 From the Depths......Page 94 The Storming of Wind......Page 95 Darwīsh, Maḥmūd 77......Page 97 An Identity Card......Page 98 To My mother......Page 99 I Love You More......Page 100 Returning to Yafa......Page 101 Passers-by in Passing Speech!......Page 103 The Singer Said......Page 104 The One O’clock Train......Page 105 From The Hoopoe......Page 106 Teach Me How I Love You......Page 110 A Portrait......Page 111 My Mother......Page 112 The Night, Love and My Beloved!......Page 113 Bring Me the Kids to Hug Them!......Page 114 The Day of Promise......Page 116 My Grandmother’s Tales......Page 117 With our Hands......Page 118 Silence in the time of Deterioration......Page 119 Oh, Bird of the Heart......Page 121 Ancestry Affiliation......Page 122 As for Me I Melt in the Words......Page 124 Oh, Butler, Tell Me!......Page 125 I am your female, until the bones I am in love......Page 127 An Espresso Moment......Page 129 The Song of Place......Page 131 1. The Cigarette......Page 133 3. The Chorus......Page 134 Remainder......Page 136 With the Songs......Page 137 The Seed of the Stone......Page 138 My Country......Page 139 Against......Page 140 From To My Brother behind the Green Lines......Page 141 And Sometimes on Our Brother, Bakr......Page 143 A Third of a Century......Page 145 On the Steps of Picasso......Page 147 I Don’t Want to See his Blood......Page 148 I Love You If Only You Knew How Much......Page 150 A Substitute for an Elegy......Page 155 Whatever He Wishes......Page 156 A Refugee......Page 157 A Fighter’s Break......Page 158 Poor Lailā......Page 160 We do not look-over fear......Page 161 To a Poet......Page 163 I Am Homeless......Page 164 From The Poetry of My Country’s Nature......Page 165 I need.........Page 167 An Elegy for People Who Have not Died Yet......Page 169 The Land Rained Us on the Country......Page 173 The Original Tree......Page 175 When the He-Flower Strips Naked......Page 176 Blueness Mixed with the Blue......Page 177 A Fly’s Journal......Page 178 Pula gets married......Page 179 Paula becomes a Widow......Page 180 Paula’s Death......Page 181 Speaking of Salmā......Page 182 Once We Found Ourselves......Page 184 The Moment’s Sun......Page 185 A Dream......Page 188 Oh, Most Beautiful Woman......Page 189 Oh Aragón......Page 190 The Smashed Jar......Page 192 In Me There Is a Thirst......Page 193 Bird of Swallows......Page 194 The Martyr......Page 195 It is high time I confessed......Page 197 Quiet are my Beaches ...Stormy are the Fountains of my Water......Page 198 My Life’s Companion......Page 200 My Mother......Page 201 Revelations......Page 202 The Theater and the Worried Man......Page 204 The Rituals of Women......Page 205 Solo Playing......Page 206 The She-Barefooted......Page 207 A Hymn without a Rhythm......Page 208 Zaynab......Page 209 The Verses of the Book......Page 210 For Whom is the Jar Filled?......Page 211 How Beautiful You Are......Page 212 Our News......Page 213 Neighbors......Page 214 The Blue Bird......Page 215 She......Page 216 It Is Love......Page 217 I Refuse to Be......Page 218 A Singing Promise......Page 219 You Are My Love And You Are My Torture......Page 220 Whispers In The Shades Of Olive Trees......Page 221 Without My Dignity I Shall Not Feel Gratified......Page 222 You Will Not Escape My Rage Or My Revenge’s Inferno......Page 223 From My Village......Page 224 An Old Style Or An Old Coin!!!......Page 227 A Vision......Page 229 The Union Ceremony......Page 230 The Wave is Return......Page 231 The Soul’s Departure......Page 232 The Clouds’ Mirrors......Page 233 Are You Tempted by Death......Page 234 Another Narration of the Same Story......Page 237 Sleeplessness, Brutalized Trophies and Gulls......Page 238 I Arrived Late......Page 239 Peter’s Key on Caesar’s Bed......Page 240 From What The Children Of The Poor Sing......Page 241 This Body......Page 243 The Portrait......Page 245 The Singer......Page 247 The Words......Page 248 The Storms’ Longing......Page 249 Words for the Homeland......Page 250 Ḥannā Abu Ḥanna -- Fahd Abū Khadrah -- Tāhā Moḥammad 'ali -- Rushdī Al-mādī -- Samīḥ Al-qāsim -- Turkī 'amer -- Suʻud Assadi -- Suleimān Daghash -- Monā Dāhir -- Maḥmūd Darwīsh -- George Jiryes Faraḥ -- Shafīq Ḥabīb -- Aḥmad Ḥusain -- Rāshid Ḥusain -- Shakīb Jahshān's Family -- Sālim Jubrān -- Jiryes Khūrī -- Salīm Makhūlī -- Ḥusain Muhannā -- Fārūq Muwāsī -- George Najīb Khalīl -- Jamāl Qa'wār -- Zahīrah Sabbāgh -- Nadhīr Shamālī -- Edmūnd Shehādah -- Tawfīq Zayyād. Edited And Translated By Jamal Assadi With Assistance From Simon Jacobs. Includes Bibliographical References. Contains the works of forty poets, and offers a variety of themes, styles, contexts, imagery, tones, and language. In this book, the poets, arranged alphabetically, depict a faithful picture of the various aspects of Arab life among what is called, paradoxically, Israeli-Palestinian societies.