The Poetry of Arab Women

Rating:
Summary: highly recommended
Review: Arab women have been writing poetry since the dawn of time. Reading modern poerty by Arab women however is a delight. This book encompasses poems that reveal the struggle of being an Arab in the U.S, the struggle of migration, war, occupation, and the struggle of cultural identity.
I highly recommend this book to those who love poetry and those who wish to understand what it means to be an Arabic women living in the United States.

Rating:
Summary: The Shimmer of Strength Shines Brightly
Review: I purchased this wonderful volume as a result of the war - I wanted to get inside the creative mind of Arab women. And I have found that poetry is the way to do it. Nathalie Handel has given us a real gift - a book filled with beautiful, strong poetry.

These are a just a few examples to whet your appetite from a substantial body of breathtaking poetry:

Zakiyya Malallah from Qatar:

"She picks me
and reconstitutes my colours."

"You treasure me on your lips,
I burst like a swing
and dangle like fragrance."


or Habiba Muhammadi from Algeria:

"No one can stand
In the face of the sun
It alone knows
Th way to the sunset."

"The hearts raided by loneliness
lead the conquests of the word."

Rating:
Summary: A long good look into a fascinating world
Review: The editor of this book, Nathalie Handal, deserves commendation for her work. If you hold the common view of Arab women as submissive and repressed beings, this book might be the thing for you. Even though repression and sexual discrimination may be harsher in Arab societies than in our Western world, that seems to be only one side of reality. What this anthology shows us is strong-willed, sensitive and opinionated women, who are also highly skilled in that most demanding of crafts - poetry. Inevitably, some of the poems are better than others. But the first alone justify buying the book, for they are VERY good. The translations are also (as far as one can ascertain through taste and personal intuition) good, with the possible exception of Munia Samara's poems, where the translator several times seems to refer to a city as both "it" and "she", occassionally in the same line: "It has not surrendered her keys to one prophet", "it opens its windows / and throws a bone / to the barking Napoleon around her walls".
Notwithstanding these minor flaws, the book is enjoyable and worthwhile as a field guide for discovering the fascination of the Arab world and its remarkable women poets.

Rating:
Summary: The women do it again :-)
Review: The newest anthology of modern Arab women's poetry, this anthology not only presents powerful and moving works of poetry but also breaks dangerous streotypes about Arab women.

Also check Nathalie Handal's 'The Neverfield Poem'

Rating:
Summary: Representative selections from more than 80 Arab. women
Review: Under the able editorship of Nathalie Handal, The Poetry Of Arab Women: A Contemporary Anthology stands as a monument to the manifold literary of Arab women as poets and wordsmiths evoking images and rhythms of language born of their experience, art, and imagination. Of special note is the lengthy introduction, followed by representative selections from more than 80 Arab. women of diverse backgrounds and life experiences. The Blind Goddess: And the blind goddess, when we touched her/like a twinkling of the eye./On the dry shore her hurried gait.../And in her face when sun and moon quarreled,/and in her step when the sea pecked a drop of life/the water receded--having become pregnant--for a time./How can the letter be Seeing, Omnipotent./a peer to the bleated, jealous god./And in the blind goddess when she dimmed/and the earth came to be/and it was the insolence of the ages. (Fadhila Chabbi).