Modern Sudanese Poetry: An Anthology PDF
Preview Modern Sudanese Poetry: An Anthology
Modern Sudanese Poetry Series editor: Kwame Dawes Editorial Board Advisory Board Chris Abani, Northwestern University Laura Sillerman Gabeba Baderoon, Pennsylvania Glenna Luschei State University Sulaiman Adebowale Kwame Dawes, University of Elizabeth Alexander Nebraska–Lincoln Phillippa Yaa de Villiers, University of the Witwatersrand Bernardine Evaristo, Brunel University London Aracelis Girmay John Keene, Rutgers University Matthew Shenoda, Rhode Island School of Design MODERN SUDANESE POETRY AN ANTHOLOGY Translated and edited by Adil Babikir Foreword by Matthew Shenoda, supervising editor University of Nebraska Press / Lincoln © 2019 by the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska All poems published with permission. All rights reserved The African Poetry Book Series has been made possible through the generosity of philanthropists Laura and Robert F. X. Sillerman, whose contributions have facilitated the establishment and operation of the African Poetry Book Fund. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Babikir, Adil, editor, translator. | Shenoda, Matthew, writer of foreword. Title: Modern Sudanese poetry: an anthology / translated and edited by Adil Babikir; foreword by Matthew Shenoda, supervising editor. Other titles: African poetry book series. Description: Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2019. | Series: African poetry book series | Includes bibliographical references. | In English; translated from the Arabic. Identifiers: lccn 2019001566 isbn 9781496215635 (pbk.: alk. paper) isbn 9781496218216 (epub) isbn 9781496218223 (mobi) isbn 9781496218230 (pdf) Subjects: lcsh: Arabic poetry— Sudan— Translations into English. | Arabic poetry— 20th century— Translations into English. Classification: lcc pj8314.5.e5 m63 2019 | ddc 892.716— dc23 lc record available at https:// lccn .loc .gov /2019001566 Set in Garamond Premier by E. Cuddy. Contents Foreword, by Matthew Shenoda ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction: Notes on Modern Sudanese Poetry xiii Khalil Farah My Beloved Aazza 1 Muhammad el- Mahdi el- Magzoub Wedding Parade 2 Idris Jamma’ A Poet 5 In the Spring of Love 6 Mohammed el- Fayturi Dig No Grave for Me 7 A Roaming Dervish’s Stanza 10 Yaaqut al- Arsh 11 Jayli Abdel Rahman Muhammad Abdul- Hai Migrating from Sai 13 The Signs Ode 47 Mohyiddin Faris Kamal Elgizouli The Wharf and the Walkway Encounter 50 Rhythms 15 Whispers 51 The Horse and the Wind 17 A Cell the Size of New Year’s Eve 53 Homeland 19 Monologue 56 Taj el- Sir el- Hassan Aalim Abbas An Afro- Asian Song 21 The Pre- Eruption Silence 58 El- Nur Osman Abbaker Mahjoub Sharif The Exile and the Kingdom 24 The Homesick Sparrow 60 Crazy in Love with You 62 Mohammed el- Makki Ibrahim I Say It without Fear 63 A Drib of Your Nectar 26 Buffoon! 65 A Farm on the Hill 30 Two Love Poems and a Carnival 33 Mahgoub Kbalo Songs for October 35 The Golden Scythe Song 67 Deng Malo: A Biography 69 Mustapha Sanad Pastoral Scriptures 70 The Old Sea 37 The Lost Violins 40 Fidaili Jamma’ The Silent Rose 72 Abdel Raheem Abu Zikra A Sun on the Window 73 Departure at Night 42 Walking a Tightrope 74 The Night Girl 44 Abdulqadir Alkutayabi Ali Abdel Qayyoum The Shores of Your Eyes 76 Who Triggered the Stone’s I Miss Something 78 Tongue? 46 Mohammed el- Hassan Najlaa Osman Eltom Salim Himmaid Under Abundant Shades 124 Uncle Abdur Raheem 80 Tuesday’s Dilemma 125 Nura and the Time- An Acacia Bush in Labor 126 Tested Dream 88 Mamoun Eltilib Hashim Siddig The Fall of Angels 127 The Story of a Revolution 92 The Tale of the Rose and Boi John Awang the Street 95 Wrapped in Grief 128 Azhari Mohammed Ali Hatim Al Kinani A Starting Point 97 Skies 129 Al- Saddig al- Raddi Nylawo Ayul Songs of Solitude 99 On the Bank of River Sobat 133 An Amulet for the Mango Tree 134 Rawda el- Haj Heart’s Confessions 104 Notes 137 A New Ebb in the High Tide Season 106 References 141 Rugaia Warrag List of Contributors 143 A Frosted Cry 109 A Tribute to Winter 110 The Spider’s Text: Millennium Messages to Life 111 Khalid Hassan Othman All Alone 122 Foreword Matthew Shenoda In this seminal collection of modern Sudanese poems, translator Adil Babikir has introduced English- language readers to a significant gathering of largely unknown works in English. Translated from Arabic, these poems capture the often tumultuous and complex histories and cultural intersections in Sudan’s modern period. Anchored in the mid- to late twentieth century, these poems give significant insight into the rise of Sudanese nationalism and the period of independence. Beautifully contextualized in an introduction by Babikir, this anthology traces the internal cultural negotiations of the Afro- Arab and Jungle and Desert schools that have defined and shaped modern Sudanese identity and helped define the emergence of a new poetic school in Sudan. In poems often steeped in a lyrical ornateness and sensual engagement with language, we are reminded of the intersections of history, place, and culture throughout this collection. Linguistic embellishments paint landscapes both internal and external, and the poems gathered here make space for an important articulation of Africa’s expansive story through a country that sits at the border of myriad multiplicities. So often these poems navigate the complexities of nationhood, place, and identity, poems like those of Mohyiddin Faris, where he writes: The peels of words sing out; the sun confiscates them, but they confiscate her golden howdah, and braid her hair into a guillotine, ix
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