Rumi

Since tomorrow is also the first day of Ramadan, the work of Rumi, a 13th century Persian mystic, poet, and scholar of the Qu’ran, is also a fitting subject of reflection. His 800th birthday even inspired an official celebration by UNESCO last year.

Coleman Barks is one of the most famous contemporary translators of Rumi’s work and often does readings accompanied by Persian music. Listen to this Real Audio excerpt from the CD “I Want Burning” featured on Learning Out Loud (click on Play under the picture of the CD). You can also read several of his poems on this page from the UMass Rumi Club. The first one featured is one of my favorites:

This Great Love Inside Me

I am so small I can barely be seen.
How can this great love be inside me?

Look at your eyes. They are small,
but they see enormous things.

Yehuda Amichai

In honor of Rosh Hashanah (tomorrow), I wanted to share a few poems by Yehuda Amichai, an Israeli poet whose Hebrew poetry has been translated into more than 35 languages. I heard him read “Wildpeace” (last poem on PDF) at the 1996 Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival and its images stayed in my mind for several days afterward.

Back in February 2000, just a few months before Amichai died, the Cortland Review featured three of his poems translated by Chana Bloch and Chana Kronfeld. Listen to the Real Audio of “Ein Yahav” to hear the poem first in Hebrew and then in English. Consider especially, the last two lines. In what ways does this metaphor ring true? What if any aspect of the comparison feels unsettling?

mothers and daughters

I spent today taking care of my mom after I picked her up from the hospital. I feel so lucky to have a mom I enjoy spending time with – whether we’re watching the sun rise over the dunes in reverent silence, mugs of steaming coffee cupped in our hands, or rocking in the wicker chairs on her front porch while pale yellow butterflies frolic in the spring breeze. Two poets who write about mothers and daughters are Linda Pastan and Lucille Clifton, but today I stumbled across “Poem for a Daughter” by Anne Stevenson, an English-American poet. Its closing lines invite discussion and reflection: “When we belong to the world / we become what we are.”