Modern Sudanese Poetry
An Anthology
Adil Babikir (Edited by), Matthew Shenoda (Foreword by), Adil Babikir (Translated by)
9781496215635
Paperback / softback, published 1 September 2019
186 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.1 cm, 0.3 kg
“No list of writing from Sudan would be complete without poetry, and this is a well overdue collection. The excellent selections cover the last six decades and include most of the classical names such as Mohammed Abdul-Hayyand Mahjoub Sharif, as well as some of the younger writers working today. It fills a yawning gap and, hopefully, will inspire others to pursue the same course.”-Jamal Mahjoub, The Guardian
“This is an unprecedented accomplishment not only in translation of modern Sudanese poetry but also scholarship on its history, evolution, poetics, and aesthetics. . . . This book is a great addition to the library of Arab poetry in translation that should appeal to scholars and the general public with interest in Arabic poetry.”-Salah M. Hassan, Goldwin Smith Professor of Africana Studies and History of Art and Visual Studies at Cornell University
“Sudanese literature has long been a significant contributor to Arabic and world letters and culture. The thoughtful, provocative introduction in this anthology, combined with the clear-eyed lyric transformation of the poems into English, honor poetry everywhere. Just as in Iraq, Yemen, Morocco, or the United States, the weight of collective history and ethnic and linguistic diversity emerges to forge these Sudanese poems into art, both bound to and liberated from the national frame. Details matter, nuance is essential. And yet the story of Sudanese poetry is the story of poetry all over the world. From blaze to breeze, this is a beautiful book.”-Fady Joudah, Palestinian American physician and author of the poetry collection The Earth in the Attic
Spanning more than six decades of Sudan’s post-independence history, this collection features work by some of Sudan’s most renowned modern poets, largely unknown in the United States. Adil Babikir’s extensive introduction provides a conceptual framework to help the English reader understand the cultural context. Translated from Arabic, the collection addresses a wide range of themes-identity, love, politics, Sufism, patriotism, war, and philosophy-capturing the evolution of Sudan’s modern history and cultural intersections.
Modern Sudanese Poetry features voices as diverse as the country’s ethnic, cultural, and natural composition. By bringing these voices together, Babikir provides a glimpse of Sudan’s poetry scene as well as the country’s modern history and post-independence trajectory.
Foreword, by Matthew Shenoda
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Notes on Modern Sudanese Poetry
Khalil Farah
My Beloved Aazza
Muhammad el-Mahdi el-Magzoub
Wedding Parade
Idris Jamma’
A Poet
In the Spring of Love
Mohammed el-Fayturi
Dig No Grave for Me
A Roaming Dervish’
s Stanza
Yaaqut al-Arsh
Jayli Abdel Rahman
Migrating from Sai
Mohyiddin Faris
The Wharf and the Walkway Rhythms
The Horse and the Wind
Homeland
Taj el-Sir el-Hassan
An Afro-Asian Song
El-Nur Osman Abbaker
The Exile and the Kingdom
Mohammed el-Makki Ibrahim
A Drib of Your Nectar
A Farm on the Hill
Two Love Poems and a Carnival
Songs for October
Mustapha Sanad
The Old Sea
The Lost Violins
Abdel Raheem Abu Zikra
Departure at Night
The Night Girl
Ali Abdel Qayyoum
Who Triggered the Stone’
s Tongue?
Muhammad Abdul-Hai
The Signs Ode
Kamal Elgizouli
Encounter
Whispers
A Cell the Size of New Year’
s Eve
Monologue
Aalim Abbas
The Pre-Eruption Silence
Mahjoub Sharif
The Homesick Sparrow
Crazy in Love with You
I Say It without Fear
Buffoon!
Mahgoub Kbalo
The Golden Scythe Song
Deng Malo: A Biography
Pastoral Scriptures
Fidaili Jamma’
The Silent Rose
A Sun on the Window
Walking a Tightrope
Abdulqadir Alkutayabi
The Shores of Your Eyes
I Miss Something
Mohammed el-Hassan Salim Himmaid
Uncle Abdur Raheem
Nura and the Time-Tested Dream
Hashim Siddig
A Story of a Revolution
A Tale of the Rose and the Street
Azhari Mohammed Ali
A Starting Point
Al-Saddig al-Raddi
Songs of Solitude
Rawda el-Haj
Heart’
s Confessions
A New Ebb in the High Tide Season
Rugaia Warrag
A Frosted Cry
A Tribute to Winter
The Spider’
s Text: Millennium Messages to Life
Khalid Hassan Othman
All Alone
Najlaa Osman Eltom
Under Abundant Shades
Tuesday’
s Dilemma
An Acacia Bush in Labor
Mamoun Eltilib
The Fall of Angels
Boi John Awang
Wrapped in Grief
Hatim Al Kinani
Skies
Nylawo Ayul
On the Bank of River Sobat
An Amulet for the Mango Tree
Notes
References
List of Contributors
