Hanging and U-shaped Valleys: The Poetry of Saif al-Rahbi
2022 Arabic Music Days: Poetry Reading and Conversation with Saif al-Rahbi
Conversation 0“The Omani poet Saif al-Rahbi paints pictures with words that deepen with each reading and each hearing. He is one of the brightest voices in contemporary Arab poetry,” says Naseer Shamma. Our specially produced video presentation below provides rare and intimate insights into his artistry, including a reading from his poetry collection The Howling of the Wolves. In this video, you will find references to four poems, read by Saif al-Rahbi. Feel free to pause the interview and listen to the separate recording of each poem.
The conversation was conducted in Arabic. For English and German subtitles, click on the settings icon at the bottom right.
Morning
The dawn’s shadow sprawls across the doorstep
and the birds seek refuge in foreign locations.
Panic has driven them into the barracks
and all you hear are wings banging against each other
like emigrants escaped from a massacre.
The morning was dark from the start.
Lightning at Night
The lightning sears our days
as it sears the room tonight.
Near the sea
this vastness sweeping away the light
skirts sculpted from the bolt’s body
and scarves carefully woven.
Ghosts of wandering fish
and in this moment, on which strength shines,
sleep leaves your eyes
and the whole theater prepares for the feast.
Hanging and U-shaped Valleys
Overnight
I realized I was still walking,
gasping for breath on sleeping legs,
no city lights in sight,
nor the Fata Morgana of a lodging house.
On two legs ensconced in sleep
I, who had thought himself arrived,
inhaled the smell of coffee at the next doorway
along with the bark of dogs.
So I stacked up my body,
as if I were a crowd of the exhausted and the wounded,
but noticed that pale light
was sneaking out of my wrist—
a blood-streak connecting
hanging to U-shaped valleys.
The Letter
Each time I open a letter—and that’s mostly in the morning—
I suspect that I’ll have to leave for a town
that a flood would wash away the minute I arrived …
With the first glance I throw at the lines
—like throwing a corpse into a narrow pit—
I hear the hearts of the absent thump,
their cries cut short by staccato laughs.
I hear
and I see the first dazzling of the flesh
in public places that tears
can no longer enter.
From between the lines, and the lines’ surrounds,
the screaming flows
and bridles the windows and the horizon.
I flee… I lose the tethers to faces agitating in my head
and I flee
towards land that is constantly sinking
Born in 1956, Saif al-Rahbi is an Omani poet, essayist, and writer. He moved to Cairo at the age of 13 to attend school and has since lived and worked abroad for many years, including in Damascus, Algeria, Paris, and London. His third poetry collection, The Bells of Rapture, published in 1985, marked his arrival as an important new voice in Arabic poetry. He later returned to Oman and established Nizwa, now the country’s leading cultural magazine, of which he is currently editor-in-chief. He has published several volumes of poetry and prose.
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