Modern Poetry in Translation, Third Series, No. 9 is dedicated to Palestine, to the place itself, its changing geographical shape; and to Palestine as a location in the mind, the idea of the place, for an Arab, an Israeli, a Jew, a Christian, a Muslim, an unbeliever. Palestine: place, aspiration, myth and reality, through many centuries. Original and translated poetry, anecdotes, photographs, all of the highest quality, deal with the topic of Palestine in its terrible complexity. This issue of MPT presents a variety of perspectives, and seeks through poetry and translation to promote an understanding of different points of view. Individual contributors see things from their own perspective. All together, they may perhaps illuminate one another and be an image of a necessary co-existence.
Inside the Issue:
Contents
Instead of an Editorial David and Helen Constantine
Joe Sacco, from Palestine
Jonathan Holmes, Israel/Palestine: a Century of Violence
Mahmoud Darwish, ‘Mural’, translated by Rema Hammami and John Berger from Arabic
Deema Shehabi, two ghazals
Marilyn Hacker, two ghazals
Jack Hamesh, two letters from Palestine to Ingeborg Bachmann, translated by David Constantine from German
Agi Mishol, ‘Parent Poems’, translated by Vivian Eden from Hebrew
Alan Hart, ‘Volunteer 1969’
Salman Masalha, three poems translated by Vivian Eden and the author from Arabic and Hebrew
John Berger, Concerning Identity
Dvora Amir, three poems, translated by Jennie Feldman from Hebrew
Jennie Feldman, ‘Sage Tea’
Ghassan Zaqtan, ‘Alone and the river before me’, translated by Fady Joudah from Arabic
Tal Nitzan, three poems, translated by Vivian Eden and the author from Hebrew
Vivian Eden, From Arabic to Hebrew and Hebrew to Arabic: Poetry Translation as a Microcosm of How the World Ought to Work
Yosef Sharon, ‘The Shelter’, translated by Gabriel Levin from Hebrew
Mahmoud Darwish, ‘Like a Hand Tattoo’, translated by Fady Joudah from Arabic
Rivka Miriam, four poems translated by Linda Zisquit from Hebrew
Samih al-Qasim, four poems, translated by Nazih Kassis from Arabic
Josephine Balmer, The Word for Sorrow
Bertil Malmberg, five poems, translated by Bill Coyle from Swedish
Carlos Marzal, four poems, translated by Nathaniel Perry from Spanish
Eeva-Liisa Manner, three poems, translated by Emily Jeremiah from Finnish
Kristiina Ehin, six poems, translated by Ilmar Lehtpere from Estonian
Dannie Abse, ‘Dafydd ap Gwilym at Llanbadarn’
Jerzy Harasymowicz, three poems, translated by Maria Rewakowicz from Polish
Editorial
- Instead of an editorial Seventeen notes and quotations having to do with Palestine......Read full editorial
Reviews
Belinda Cooke on Ted Hughes’s translations
Jo Balmer, Shorter Reviews