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Lighthouse for the Drowning
Presented bilingually, this first US publication of Jawdat Fakhreddine—one of the major Lebanese names in modern Arabic poetry—establishes a revolutionary dialogue between international, modernist values and the Arabic tradition. Fakhreddine’s unique voice is a breakthrough for the poetic language of his generation—an approach that presents poetry as a beacon, a lighthouse that both opposes and penetrates all forms of darkness. Stars of ours
that did not shine in the shroud of night,
but we took joy in them
when the night was a gloom all around us.
To our children, we
We are not your lighthouse.
Do not follow the path we light,
but be your own secrets.
Jawdat Fakhreddine was born in 1953 in a small village in southern Lebanon. A professor of Arabic literature at the Lebanese University in Beirut, he is one of the major Lebanese names in Modern Arabic Poetry, and is considered one of the second generation poets of the modernist movement in the Arab world. He earned an MA in Physics and taught at the high school level for more than 10 years. During this time he published a number of poetry collections and was encouraged by Adonis to work on a PhD in Arabic literature. Fakhreddine intermittently publishes articles and new poems in al-Hayat newspaper, which is an Arab newspaper published in London and distributed worldwide, and in as-Safir , one of the two major Lebanese Newspapers. He writes a weekly article in al-Khaleej newspaper, a widely distributed gulf daily newspaper. He currently lives in Beirut, Lebanon.
that did not shine in the shroud of night,
but we took joy in them
when the night was a gloom all around us.
To our children, we
We are not your lighthouse.
Do not follow the path we light,
but be your own secrets.
Jawdat Fakhreddine was born in 1953 in a small village in southern Lebanon. A professor of Arabic literature at the Lebanese University in Beirut, he is one of the major Lebanese names in Modern Arabic Poetry, and is considered one of the second generation poets of the modernist movement in the Arab world. He earned an MA in Physics and taught at the high school level for more than 10 years. During this time he published a number of poetry collections and was encouraged by Adonis to work on a PhD in Arabic literature. Fakhreddine intermittently publishes articles and new poems in al-Hayat newspaper, which is an Arab newspaper published in London and distributed worldwide, and in as-Safir , one of the two major Lebanese Newspapers. He writes a weekly article in al-Khaleej newspaper, a widely distributed gulf daily newspaper. He currently lives in Beirut, Lebanon.
- GenresPoetryMiddle East
128 pages, Paperback
Published June 13, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 11, 2019
Fear is a friend that flatters me.
It alone pities me.
It alone becomes restless in my loneliness.
A brother for the road,
when I walk alone.
- From Do I Take Refuge in Myself
Celestial and earthly settings, strong imagery and classical call backs. Lebanese poet Jawdat Fakhreddine's strong collection (and a spectacular translation by Huda Fakhreddine and Jayson Iwen) was a delight to read.
Highlights:
Glow
Do I Take Refuge in Myself
For Yemen
Heavy Essence
Light Pulse
Stars
Bird
Land
It alone pities me.
It alone becomes restless in my loneliness.
A brother for the road,
when I walk alone.
- From Do I Take Refuge in Myself
Celestial and earthly settings, strong imagery and classical call backs. Lebanese poet Jawdat Fakhreddine's strong collection (and a spectacular translation by Huda Fakhreddine and Jayson Iwen) was a delight to read.
Highlights:
Glow
Do I Take Refuge in Myself
For Yemen
Heavy Essence
Light Pulse
Stars
Bird
Land
February 20, 2022
"Poetry is the deepest sea"
Wow, this was beautifully crafted! Lyrical and poignant, yet simultaneously light and graceful. A great read!
"Before long we leave and what we didn't say and what we have always said will stay. We prepare for our own absence. We gather ourselves, and yet all that is here speaks of our having been. Why then? Is it because we depart and depart forever leaving behind a little of ourselves?"
"From this height, I've learned the meaning of falling."
"Oh! How short life is, and how long this day of mine!"
Wow, this was beautifully crafted! Lyrical and poignant, yet simultaneously light and graceful. A great read!
"Before long we leave and what we didn't say and what we have always said will stay. We prepare for our own absence. We gather ourselves, and yet all that is here speaks of our having been. Why then? Is it because we depart and depart forever leaving behind a little of ourselves?"
"From this height, I've learned the meaning of falling."
"Oh! How short life is, and how long this day of mine!"
August 11, 2017
An absolutely outstanding collection of poems. I don't know how faithful the translations are to the original, but the translations read absolutely beautifully.
Read
March 2, 2022I had written about this book 5 years ago, but 2 days ago, picked it up and was struck by how
aptly the poems, written by a Lebanese poet forced to leave his Southern town in Lebanon, now living in Beirut, reflect the frightening displacement in 2022 of so many because of war.
Of what use a lighthouse, if drowning? Written in 1996, without the translation, we might not know that each of the poems begins with an allusion to a Classical Arabic poem, sometimes,
the words of which are commonplace in daily Arabic parlance. The introduction compares this
to “cover songs” for the poet’s meditations. In Arabic poetry, abstraction and repetition are highly regarded, and I feel the translators have handled it well, much as English readers might find this annoying. The two translators worked separately, one with a tack of scholarly interpretation, the other working with the feeling, and seeking its tone and texture.
It is certainly the sort of book that invites a “conversation”. I do not know Arabic, but wish I did, to hear the original. His poems led me to reflect on fear... how easily we walk with it.. but perhaps it is not our best friend to choose... I was intrigued by the word “indulgence” which I think is cast differently in the original Arabic— a way for what is experienced to embrace the poet...
I noted the repeated “settle” and “perch” with a context of a pause to wandering, carrying our secrets, our hearts like a wingless bird wrestling beat by beat with unnameable sadness, yearning
for starlight and what beckons lightyears beyond.
I am left with questions: how to meet the past days, and with what attitude do I prepare to sympathize with those to come?
The back cover quotes the poet, “Words... are the lost homeland.”— the rubble and remains of their losses... What feelings and perceptions to trust?
aptly the poems, written by a Lebanese poet forced to leave his Southern town in Lebanon, now living in Beirut, reflect the frightening displacement in 2022 of so many because of war.
Of what use a lighthouse, if drowning? Written in 1996, without the translation, we might not know that each of the poems begins with an allusion to a Classical Arabic poem, sometimes,
the words of which are commonplace in daily Arabic parlance. The introduction compares this
to “cover songs” for the poet’s meditations. In Arabic poetry, abstraction and repetition are highly regarded, and I feel the translators have handled it well, much as English readers might find this annoying. The two translators worked separately, one with a tack of scholarly interpretation, the other working with the feeling, and seeking its tone and texture.
It is certainly the sort of book that invites a “conversation”. I do not know Arabic, but wish I did, to hear the original. His poems led me to reflect on fear... how easily we walk with it.. but perhaps it is not our best friend to choose... I was intrigued by the word “indulgence” which I think is cast differently in the original Arabic— a way for what is experienced to embrace the poet...
I noted the repeated “settle” and “perch” with a context of a pause to wandering, carrying our secrets, our hearts like a wingless bird wrestling beat by beat with unnameable sadness, yearning
for starlight and what beckons lightyears beyond.
I am left with questions: how to meet the past days, and with what attitude do I prepare to sympathize with those to come?
The back cover quotes the poet, “Words... are the lost homeland.”— the rubble and remains of their losses... What feelings and perceptions to trust?
Read
March 7, 2024There in the Winter
1.
I have closed the doors to women,
the windows once open to desire.
I have left myself only a high balcony
with curtains the colors of fear, longing, and regret.
I have closed the doors to women,
and behind the curtains, I took to a balcony falling away.
A desert rises and stretches over my illusions,
the only pulse remaining that of regret.
2.
Who is the third among us?
You or I or the chill that accompanies us?
Out there in the winter is a wild dove.
It sang on a branch I saw in a dream
and then was lost.
What cold will we face together in the days to come,
when we have no idea, when we are three,
who is the third among us?
1.
I have closed the doors to women,
the windows once open to desire.
I have left myself only a high balcony
with curtains the colors of fear, longing, and regret.
I have closed the doors to women,
and behind the curtains, I took to a balcony falling away.
A desert rises and stretches over my illusions,
the only pulse remaining that of regret.
2.
Who is the third among us?
You or I or the chill that accompanies us?
Out there in the winter is a wild dove.
It sang on a branch I saw in a dream
and then was lost.
What cold will we face together in the days to come,
when we have no idea, when we are three,
who is the third among us?
October 31, 2022
Beautiful... The poems have a visceral quality, an immediacy and emotional resonance that at times brings to mind Neruda.
"Clouds rise in the space of my soul,
now awakened.
A luminescence in the earth here releases the clouds, the mountains,
and draws the distant skies near, then tosses them onto the wasteland
that blooms elated in sun and shadow."
"Clouds rise in the space of my soul,
now awakened.
A luminescence in the earth here releases the clouds, the mountains,
and draws the distant skies near, then tosses them onto the wasteland
that blooms elated in sun and shadow."
Read
August 31, 2017This book was featured in the Nota Benes section of the Sept/Oct 2017 issue of World Literature Today Magazine.
https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/...
https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/...
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews