In the beginning
love was a gift from God.
Its law melts as words.
Its eve was the tone
of the letters.
Adam was not there
but a sheet containing
the fate of all...
Raed Anis Al-JISHI (poet, translator; Saudi Arabia) has published one novel, seven volumes of poems in Arabic and one, Bleeding Gull: Look, Feel, Fly, in English. Alongside a career as a writer, he teaches high school chemistry in his native city of Qateef. He is a feminist and human rights activist, and works on issues involving children and literacy.
Find Raed's Arabic social media (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook) at rabdaljishi. Below are links to his English accounts.
In the beginning love was a gift from God. Its law melts as words. Its eve was the tone of the letters. Adam was not there but a sheet containing the fate of all... media_text
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And I see peasants singing along the milky road alongside a bull that didn’t know what a plow looks like. And beggars, desert sharpeners like a flock of cheating... media_text
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When the distance to stillness becomes a ticket for the passenger and there is no other trip, the port of transfiguration is caught in desertification. Sound waves ... media_text
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An autistic girl searching for the spring between the black clouds— her braids are made from a shining rose branch. Her dreams are made from a shining rose. But who... media_text
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I stand near me Watching that man Come from the land far away. We have the same lisp In our tongue and in our memory. He went through me, And I didn’t notice He stole... media_text
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Their identikits are a mystery. I couldn’t recognize them by the reflection of the wind Nor by the sensors On my blind stick. They walked by me with sympathy. ... media_text
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I am gambling in the Beirut night. I need two numbers melded together. I never asked any dice about its color, where it was made, or about its birthday in... media_text
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We have a modest tradition of hospitality. Our Arabian coffee doesn’t need sugar or cardamom to be tasty or delightful just like the smile we serve to those... media_text
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Surrounded by the walls of memory with no lover and nothing to remember I mock my triangular cuffs and the illusion of hands in a circle. An iron cage of emotions... media_text
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I have seen gulls,
in holy visions,
hover and invent
the sound of horses.
I have seen them
give alms to rats
hungry for crumbs of bread,
crucified on the altar.
I have seen them
flap their wings and swallow
common...
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I am a Tuareg child. My blue turban drowns me in the waves of sadness, then expels me like seeds of ivory. O! great Tin Hinan, your brave knight lost his way among... media_text
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Like a dervish I am flattered by poems, emotions, spitting the coffee in the longing coffee. From the east, the last gate of escape, I looked upon us in the froth.... media_text
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