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321 pages

English

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Description

On March 5th 2007, a car bomb exploded on al-Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad. More than 30 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded. This is the historic centre of Baghdad bookselling, a winding street filled with bookstores and outdoor stalls. Named after the famed 10th century classical Arab poet al-Mutanabbi, it had been the heart and soul of the Baghdad literary and intellectual community. Begins with a historical introduction to al-Mutanabbi Street and includes the writing of Iraqis and international poets and writers.

Sujets

Sociologie, société et politique

Cultural studies

Informations

Publié par	PM Press
Date de parution	19 septembre 2012
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781604867664
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	7 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0300€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here

Edited by Beau Beausoleil & Deema K. Shehabi

Contributing Editors: Sinan Antoon Summer Brenner Julie Bruck Jordan Elgrably Susannah Okret Persis Karim Rick London Dunya Mikhail Bonnie Nish Maysoon Pachachi Rijin Sahakian Zaid Shlah Louise Steinman Sholeh Wolpé

Project website: http://www.al-mutanabbistreetstartshere-boston.com/ JaFe Center for Book Arts: http://www.library.Fau.edu/depts/spc/JafeCenter/collection/al-mutanabbi/index.php

Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Edited by Beau Beausoleil & Deema K. Shehabi © 2012 PM Press All rights reserved. No part oF this book may be transmitted by any means without permission in writing From the publisher.

ISBN: 978–1–60486–590–5 Library oF Congress Control Number: 2011939672

Cover designed by Tania Baban, based on a broadside printed by Suzanne Vilmain For the Al-Mutanabbi Street Broadside Project Interior design by briandesign

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

PM Press PO Box 23912 Oakland, CA 94623 www.pmpress.org

Printed in the USA on recycled paper, by the Employee Owners oF Thomson-Shore in Dexter, Michigan. www.thomsonshore.com

Contents

IntroductionBeau BeausoleIl PrefaceMuhsIn al-MusawI

I. THE RIVER TURNED BLACK WITH INK The Bookseller’s Story, Ending Much Too SoonAnthony ShadId A Man in Love with KnowledgeMousa al-NaserI For al-Mutanabbi StreetNaomI ShIhab Nye The Last WordDeena Metzger The Grief of BirdsSam Hamod Al-Mutanabbi StreetLutiya al-DulaImI Occident to OrientZaId Shlah Ways to Count the DeadPersIs M. KarIm Al-Mutanabbi StreetAyub NurI Qasida, My Father Spoke at Funerals, Ways to Raise the Dead MarIan Haddad Girls in Red on Page OneSarah BrownIng Al-Mutanabbi StreetEIleen Grace O’Malley Callahan Abridged Qasida for al-Mutanabbi StreetRoger Sedarat Al-Mutanabbi StreetEllIne LIpkIn Fragment, in Praise of the BookMeena Alexander An Ordinary BooksellerEsther Kamkar What PrayerRobert Perry Marianne Moore in BaghdadGlorIa CollIns The al-Mutanabbi Street BombingBrIan Turner In PerpetuityGlorIa Frym Against the Weather (for al-Mutanabbi Street)Owen HIll Dead TreesYassIn “The NarcIcyst” Alsalman Elegy for al-Mutanabbi StreetJosé LuIs GutIérrez The Letter Has ArrivedSargon Boulus Al-Mutanabbi StreetPeter Money

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3 8 12 13 15 16 21 24 25

28 30 31 34 36 37 38 39 40 42 44 45 47 50 52 53

Voices Surround & Fade: The Hooded OnePeter Money A Letter to al-MutanabbiSInan Antoon Escape from al-Mutanabbi StreetMuhammad al-HamranI into the lizard’s eyesLIlvIa Soto Aer RumiJanet Sternburg To Salah al-Hamdani, November, 2008Sam HamIll Thirty Days aer Thirty YearsSalah al-HamdanI Excerpt fromBlueGaIl Sher A half-burned page on al-Mutanabbi StreetDunya MIkhaIl My Days Lack Happiness and I Want Youïrada al-JabbourI RemnantsDIlara CIrIt AshesNIamh macFhIonnlaoIch The Color She WearsErIca Goss No Man’s LandDaIsy Zamora On al-Mutanabbi StreetGeorge Evans The FriendSteve DIckIson The River Turned Black with InkMaysoon PachachI

II. KNOWLEDGE IS LIGHT Matter and Spirit on al-Mutanabbi StreetSummer Brenner UntitledJen Hofer UntitledRIjIn SahakIan Rain SongBadr ShakIr al-Sayyab The PoetJane HIrshield “Close to God”Jack Marshall A Book in the HandSusan Moon Revolutionary Letter #77 Awkward Song on the Eve of War DIane dI PrIma Al-Mutanabbi StreetEvelyn So Ethics of Care: The Retreat of al-MutanabbiNahraIn al-MousawI A Secret QuestionKo Un The Road to al-Mutanabbi StreetJoe Lamb UntitledKatrIna Rodabaugh For I Am a StrangerBadr ShakIr al-Sayyab UntitledMohammed HayawI Excerpt fromFive Hymns to PainNazIk al-MalaIka Al-Mutanabbi StreetRaya Asee AttentionSaadI Youssef DestiniesGazar Hantoosh A Book of RemediesMark Abley On the Booksellers’ Street of BaghdadMajId Naicy CrossroadsLewIs Buzbee

54 55 57 61 67 68 70 71 72 73 79 80 81 82 83 84 85

91 93 96 98 102 103 104

107 110 114 117 118 120 121 122 123 125 127 128 129 132 134

Untitledïbn al-UtrI Remembering al-MutanabbiThomas ChrIstensen On Ashurbanipal’s LibraryAmy Gerstler

III. GATHERING THE SILENCES In the Valley of LoveGenny LIm Night in HamdanSaadI Youssef BurningJudIth Lyn Sutton Luis and Celso on al-Mutanabbi StreetJosh Kun LullabyDana Teen Lomax I Recall al-SayyabMahmoud DarwIsh Country of Large RiversEtel Adnan The MurdererBushra al-BustanI GHAZAL: Dar al-HarbMarIlyn Hacker A Home on al-Mutanabbi StreetRIchard HarrIson Proof of KindnessFady Joudah Hearing of Alia Muhammed Baker’s StrokePhIlIp Metres Prayer for the LivingHayan Charara InterpenetrateAnnIe FInch The ContractKazIm AlI Curves in the DarkDeema K. ShehabI The Booksellers of PansodanKenneth Wong The Proper PurgationElmaz AbInader In the Country of the DeadHabIb Tengour Adolescence of Burnt HandsKhaled Mattawa FromTales of a Severed HeadRachIda MadanI UntitledAmIna SaId What Every Driver Must KnowAlIse AlousI ExplosionSIta CarbonI Letter to My Childhood Friend, the Baghdad Car Bomber Fran Bourassa ChrysalisJabez W. ChurchIll Al-Mutanabbi Street: Foot Notes aer the FireDanIela Bouneva Elza Poppies Are Not (Enough)DanIela Bouneva Elza Psalms and AshesLInda Norton Black and RedFred Norman Nazik al-MalaikaFred Norman Al-MutanabbiBonnIe NIsh randomBonnIe NIsh The TwistedJanet Rodney Tonight No Poetry Will ServeAdrIenne RIch The Blues Sat Down on al-Mutanabbi StreetCornelIus Eady

137 138 141

147 148 149 150 154 155 156 157 159 161 162 163 164 166 167 168 170 175 177 181 182 185 188 190

191 193 194 195 196 199 201 202 203 204 205 206

March 9, 2007 Al-Mutanabbi Street, BaghdadJulIe Bruck The Secret CarpentryKwame Dawes BlackoutsRalph Angel MothB.H. FaIrchIld Baghdad CallsbyTerese Svoboda They Didn’t Ask: What’s Aer DeathMahmoud DarwIsh The Airport of LanguageAmIr el-ChIdIac RocksAram Saroyan April StorkSaadI Youssef Solos on the Oud (#3)SaadI Youssef See Them ComingSholeh Wolpé Love SongSholeh Wolpé Until the Glaciers MeltSholeh Wolpé TonightNathalIe Handal One (for al-Mutanabbi Street)Beau BeausoleIl The Timeless Legacy of al-Mutanabbi StreetAzar NaisI The Sudden Cessation of ElectricityDIma HIlal Market Forces RunonTony Kranz Freedom to WalkJordan Elgrably Untitleddevorah major WordsSuzy Malcolm The Last SupperïbrahIm Nasrallah The CelebrationïbrahIm Nasrallah A Special InvitationïbrahIm Nasrallah Circle of PreyRIck London Its First SmellSarah Menefee AutomatizeRoberto HarrIson Verses for Everyday UseFadhIl al-AzzawI Paper ElegyAmaranth Borsuk 311 and CountingLamees al-EtharI A Very Short LetterShayma’ al-Saqr The Street of the PoetJIm Natal

Contributors Acknowledgments

207 208 210 211 212 213 214 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 229 231 232 235 237 238 239 240 241 242 244 248 252 253 255 264

266 289

Introduction

Sometimes the weight oF our own silence becomes completely unbear-able, until we cannot take one more day oF reading about the blood, bone, and ash. And then the moment comes when we recognize that this distant landscape is our own, and that we must walk through it. On March 5, 2007, a car bomb was exploded on al-Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad.More than thirty people were killed and more than a hundred were wounded. This locale is the historic center oF Baghdad bookselling, a winding street îlled with bookstores and outdoor book stalls. Named aer the Famed tenth-century classical Arab poet, al-Mutanabbi, this is an old and established street For bookselling and has been For hundreds oF years. It has been the heart and soul oF the Baghdad literary and intel-lectual community. The connection between the booksellers and readers on al-Mutan-abbi Street and the booksellers and readers here is very simple and direct. We all share the belieF that books are the holders oF memories,dreams,and ideas. I Felt, as a poet and bookseller here in San rancisco, an urgent need to keep this singular, tragic event in our consciousness, because it has such deep historical and cultural implications, For us, here in this country, and For the people oF Iraq. To this end, I decided to create a coalition oF poets, artists, writers, printers, booksellers, and readers. I had two basic goals. The îrst goal was to have those involved in the arts respond to this targeted attack. A response that would consider the various underpinnings that made up the Fabric oF al-Mutanabbi Street: a street that held bookstores,a street that held both Shia and Sunni,a street that indeed welcomed all Iraqis,a street where people Felt relatively “saFe” as they walked, browsed books, bought stationery, arranged For printing, or sat in the Shabandar CaFé. These same people somehow believed that this place oF knowledge and history “protected” them From the encroach-ing chaos.

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ï   R ô  û ç  ï ô 

Besides seeking to gather more dead, the car bomber and his cohorts were attacking the thoughts and ideas latent in each book, trying to also kill the notion that someone might be Free to say something not sanc-tioned by them. It didn’t matter iF that idea was in a children’s book, a book oF philosophy, a memoir, poetry, or perhaps even more dangerous, a blank notebook. My second goal was to try to close the distance between al-Mutan-abbi Street and similar “cultural streets” here and around the globe.I want people to understand the commonality that exists between al-Mutanabbi Street and any street that holds a bookstore or a cultural institution.I want people to understand that a careFully chosen attack like this should be seen as an attack on us all. I have Felt that concentrating our attention on this one car bombing, on this one day, on this one narrow winding street, would reveal many things to us and perhaps also help us to see the bond we have with every-day Iraqis.These are the Iraqis who get up each day and work to live,Iraqis whose lives are altered Forever by being in the wrong place at the wrong time: while on their way to work, to school, to the market, just sitting in a caFé, or picking up a book to read on al-Mutanabbi Street. I have come to Feel that wherever someone gathers their thoughts to write towards the truth,or where someone sits down and opens a book to read, it istherethat al-Mutananabbi Street starts. As much as this anthology celebrates al-Mutanabbi Street and helps others understand what it means to the Iraqi cultural community,it is also alamentFor those who were killed and wounded that day, and by exten-sion, on all the streets and days beFore, and days aer, even this very day, as I write these words. Al-Mutanabbi Street has reopened,although many booksellers were killed, and many oF the survivors le the street; still books are being dis-played and sold again,and the gutted Shabandar CaFé has been made new (the owner lost many Family members in the blast). And, today my Friend Maysoon Pachachi writes to me, “We will see how long it will take For al-Mutanabbi Street to get its soul back.” One might say the same about our own country, as well. I have always wanted the Iraqi cultural community to know that we would not let them endure all that has happened in silence.Al-Mutanabbi Street starts in many places around the globe.Everywhere it starts it seeks to include the Free exchange oF ideas. We must saFeguard that. These are our words. Al-Mutanabbi Street starts here. —Beau Beausoleil

Preface Al-Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad: When Books Take You Captive

Muhsin al-Musawi

When writing or speaking oF al-Mutanabbi Street, one cannot make a mere reFerence to a street in an urban center, not only because it has long been recognized as the consortium par excellence For booksellers,scribes, and bookstores in Iraq, but also because oF its long history. Al-Mutanabbi Street’s lineage dates back to the urban district oF scribes oF Abbasid in Baghdad (762–1258 CE), and it challenges our knowledge oF the geneal-ogy oF culture and the resilience oF an industry that has been resisting destruction. Samuel Kramer’s monumental study oF Sumerian and old Mesopotamian writing, as the oldest and earliest in the world, consoli-dates an Iraqi tradition which is as much a celebration oF writing as oF Fertility and love. However, this celebration is always challenged and conFronted with powers oF destruction and death. In Sumerian poetry war and destruction were metonymized as storms, callous, devastating and ignorant. In Kramer’s eloquent translations oF poetic tablets, we are met with the impetus oF passionate narratives and pleadings anchored in a sublime human yearning For peace and a liFe oF plenty. Writing itselF is a celebration oF this will to live, For only through recuperation, reproduc-tion, Fertility, and love can a human society survive in joy. Mesopotamian writing is a testimony to this longing and struggle. Although Baghdad is new in comparison to these ancient traditions, it inherited this love For writing and documentation upon its establish-ment in 762 CE, and sustained it through the city’s cultural growth. The area around al-Mutanabbi Street itselF was the old Abbasid district oF scribes’ markets and booksellers’ stalls and shops. At that time it was probably adjacent to Darb Zakha, or Zakha Alley, where there were then cultural and educational institutions and schools. It was part oF a large and thriving district oF many alleys that were usually reFerred to as Suq al-Warraqin (Scribes’ Markets).The renowned bibliophile al-Nadim (died 998 CE) made eloquent mention oF this market, which Ahmad Ibn Tahir, the celebrated Ibn TayFur (died 893 CE) had already documented in his