However, I was struck by something he wrote in the appendix of this book that, among many reasons he didn't want his work ever translated, was that readers elsewhere don't quite get the magnitude of his impact on Arabic poetic tradition, and how far his work went to break taboos he says that he thinks people elsewhere will find his work "naive," even as in his obituary they note that he opened for broader discussion topics of female sexuality and also homosexuality. To be sure, even in the depth and beauty of these works, there are definitely a select number of his poems that offend my sensibilities and reflect the sorts of negative portrayals of women that pervade popular culture and make me cringe. His life was fascinating, though punctuated by loss, and to learn about it informs the content of some of his works. In particular, I found this article, an obituary written in 1998, to be enlightening. I've learned a lot about Nizar Qabbani today. Qabbani's poetry in particular basks in the many dimensions of love's beauty, making it deceptively easy to buzz through several works in a trance of delight and hardly realize you've indulged in a buffet of romantic musings. And yet, simply 'waterskiing across the surface' of a collection like this (As Billy Collins might advocate) is profoundly pleasurable, even if I come away unable to even recount my favorite piece. Apart from the true classics, the "O Captain My Captain"s of the world, I do not simply read a poem and instantly remember it or even any constituent part of it. To have just had such an evening, I'm amazed I do not do it more.įor me, to read a poem for the first time-let alone an entire collection of poems-is to be overcome with a visceral but fleeting beauty. And yet, simply 'waterskiing across the surface' of a collection li It is not often that I sit for an evening immersed in love poetry. For me, to read a poem for the first time-let alone an entire collection of poems-is to be overcome with a visceral but fleeting beauty. To have just had such an evening, I'm amazed I do not do it more. It is not often that I sit for an evening immersed in love poetry.
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