For breakfast I eat up my vowels, my a e i o u, to which I add from consonants a fricative or two;
After that I move my bowels then write as poets do, and frequently am quite surprised to feel a trill come through.

Saturday 16 April 2011

I Love ~ Taha Muhammad Ali




One of my favourite poems by Taha is Meeting At An Airport


So I ask you, what do you hate, and what do you love?


(Click here to search for Taha Muhammad Ali on AbeBooks)

2 comments:

  1. "Meeting at an Airport" is a wonderful poem, even in translation (I read only English). It inspired a humble effort of mine which actually described what I hate and what I love to be found at http://allpoetry.com/poem/6015785, "The Book of Change", the title of which is a reference to the I Ching:-

    THE BOOK OF CHANGE
    by Nisaba Merrieweather

    Long ago I hated
    Loss, helplessness
    And the pain of longing.

    The guttering pink candles on the ledge
    Only reminded the night to be dark.
    Even the orange moon
    Was the deepest blue.

    But the piling up of the years around me
    Did to me what the years always do.
    Now I choose to wrap my horizons tightly around me
    Like an invisible constricting cloak
    That holds me silent and breathes for me -

    And now I love
    The tiniest things -
    The ants in the lines
    Of their huge cities and invincible armies,
    The stars in their constellations
    (huge flaming balls
    of exploding hydrogen
    destroying everything in their path
    and evoking the cries of lovelorn poets).

    I love the traceries
    Of decomposing leaves,
    The joy and sadness of knowing
    That everything and nothing is the same.

    But I love most of all,
    My distant friend,
    The moistened eyelashes of your surprise.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Some great lines here Nisaba, a strong opening and I love the traceries of decomposing leaves - and the inter-textual homage to Taha's poem with his beautiful 'moistened eyelashes of your surprise'.

    Thank you very much for sharing your poem here, and encourage any visitors to take a look at your other poems at:

    http://allpoetry.com/Nisaba%20M.

    ReplyDelete