TRANSLUCENCE / بين قارّتين , BY SAMAR ABDEL JABER & NICOLE CALLIHAN

Description

في ديوان “بين قارّتين” للشاعرة سمر عبد الجابر، جرأة فتح السؤال على البدايات. ثمة فلسفة تخترق المعاني فتتبدّى بدايةً.. أظلال الدلالات والإيقاع؟.. “متى بدأ الحزن؟”.. مناخات عميقة وخصوصية شعرية تنهمر بسلاسة.. أإيقاع الغياب؟! “كيف كانت الأرض حين هطل المطر للمرّة الأولى؟”.. تقف القصيدة، في معمارها الشعريّ-التأمليّ، على مفترق لحظة العدالة.. على مفترق الغيابْ حيث فلسطين تنتظر. “كان عليك أن تحدّق جيّداً في عينيّ الغزال الواسعتين قبل أن تطلق النار.. نظرةً حزينةً إلى الأبد”.. حكايات تنهمر من الماضي والآتي.. في البدء كان الشعر.

How do languages speak to each other? Through poetry, of course, and Translucence illuminates such a correspondence, an exchange, a dance. Abdel Jaber and Callihan’s parallel scripts and lyrics shine beautifully side by side, over and under, voicing loss, longing, and love. These poems address and redress “what it might mean/to disappear/into the self/into the sea.” —Joseph O. Legaspi

Samar Abdel Jaber is the author of Wa fi rewayaten okhra (And There Are Other Accounts; Malameh Publishing House, 2008), Madha law konna ashbahan (What If We Were Ghosts; Dar al-Ahlia Publishing, 2013), winner of the Palestinian Young Writer of the Year Award from the A.M. Qattan Foundation, and Kawkab mansey (The Forgotten Planet; Dar al-Ahlia Publishing, 2016). Abdel Jaber was recognize by the Danish Institute in Damascus for the best poems that reflect the status of Arab societies after the Arab Spring and its effect on youth. Abdel Jaber holds a bachelor’s degree from Beirut Arab University and currently works in Dubai.

Nicole Callihan is the author of Henry River Mill Village (Arcadia Publishing, 2012), co-authored with Ruby Young Kellar; the poetry collection SuperLoop (Sock Monkey Press, 2014); and the poetry chapbooks: A Study in Spring (Rabbit Catastrophe Press, 2015), co-authored Zoë Ryder White and winner of the Baltic Writing Residency Chapbook Contest Award; The Deeply Flawed Human (Deadly Chaps Press, 2016); Downtown (Finishing Line Press 2017); and Aging (Yes, Poetry, 2018). Callihan is assistant director and senior language lecturer at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering, and lives in Brooklyn.