The Iraqi Poet Badr Shakir al-Sayyab

[Note: This is the 19th in a series of translations of selected letters of the noted Iraqi poet Badr Shakir al-Sayyab. For more information on the poet, click here.]

Letter #19

Basra 9/11/1963

My Dear Brother ‘Asim (al-Gindi),

I have been silent too long because I have been going through the final stages of treatment. Neither British nor French medicine has been able to cure my illness, so I finally resorted to popular Arabic medicine, and I followed the saying of our noble Prophet: (cauterization is the last resort of treatment). Yes, I have tried it with hot metal skewers at the hands of a Bedouin healer. The complete results of this treatment have not appeared yet because the wounds caused by cauterization have not healed in spite of the twenty days that have passed. Nevertheless, there is a glimpse of hope. Let us leave all this behind. Continue reading The Letters of Badr Shakir al-Sayyab: #19 →

The Iraqi Poet Badr Shakir al-Sayyab

[Note: This is the 16th in a series of translations of selected letters of the noted Iraqi poet Badr Shakir al-Sayyab. For more information on the poet, click here.]

Letter #16

al-Ma’qil 3/ 29/1962

My Dear Brother Mr. Jabra (Ibrahim Jabra),

Is it possible for any Iraqi to visit the beautiful Baghdad and to intentionally leave it? I will certainly try to arrange for “many visits” there in the summer beginning in June, God willing. However, this letter is devoted to business, to the story of Oxford that is long overdue, and not for chatting. The important thing is that I have a lot of new poetry that I will recite to you when we meet.

The following are my responses to the questions of Professor Hurani. I write it in Arabic so you may translate it according to how you see fit. You have the absolute right in responding as you wish:

1- Yes. I wish to study at any university other than Oxford, on the condition that I obtain an acceptance through the mediation of professor Hurani.
2- I was supposed to begin last academic year, but I postponed it until next year (next October), and I believe that it is difficult to postpone it a second time.
3- I prefer to write a thesis in the field of Arabic Studies or in Comparative Literature between Arabic and English Literature. Continue reading The Letters of Badr Shakir al-Sayyab: #16 →

The Iraqi Poet Badr Shakir al-Sayyab

[Note: This is the 13th in a series of translations of selected letters of the noted Iraqi poet Badr Shakir al-Sayyab. For more information on the poet, click here.]

Letter #13

Basra 7/13/1961

My Dear Brother Abdel Karim (al-Na’im),

I send you an Arab greeting.

It was good of you to write to me again especially after I lost, along with a number of papers and poems, your previous letter in which you mentioned your new address.

Regarding the campaign of “al-Adaab” against me, let me explain. About two years ago, Suheil Idris requested my approval to let Dar al-Adaab publish my poetry collection. I promised they could, and he was waiting for me to send him the drafts. However, I had no drafts except the poems that had been previously published in the journals “al-Adaab” and “Shi’r,” etc. Then the “Shi’r” journal volunteered to search for my poems and collect them. In the meantime, my collection, “Hymn of the Rain,” was published. All of this together with my decision to cease publishing in al-Adaab and limit my publishing only to “Shi’r” angered Suheil Idris. Furthermore, it is clear that Mr. (Elie Hawi) wanted – in his criticism – to prove that his brother, Khalil Hawi, was a better poet than I. Continue reading The Letters of Badr Shakir al-Sayyab: #13 →

The Iraqi Poet Badr Shakir al-Sayyab

[Note: This is the twelfth in a series of translations of selected letters of the noted Iraqi poet Badr Shakir al-Sayyab. For more information on the poet, click here.]

Letter #12

Baghdad 3/12/1960

My Dear Beloved, Adunis,

Your letter arrived a long time ago. I would have responded to it before now had it not been for the mid-year examinations and the numerous corrections of notebooks that accompany it. I work now as a lecturer and not as an employee in the secondary schools due to the dire need for English teachers. I am one of them.

It is kind of you to remember your brother who loves you immensely and who respects you greatly both as a person and a poet.

I am still of the same opinion concerning my trip to Lebanon. It will take place during the summer, God willing. Would I succeed in finding a job sufficient to sustain me, my wife and my child? I do not know. However, I am prepared to teach even if that is my least desirable wish. Continue reading The Letters of Badr Shakir al-Sayyab: #12 →

The Iraqi Poet Badr Shakir al-Sayyab

[Note: This is the tenth in a series of translations of selected letters of the noted Iraqi poet Badr Shakir al-Sayyab. For more information on the poet, click here.]

Letter #9

My Dear Brother Yusuf (al-Khal) (1)

I hope you and the rest of our brothers are well. I have a Lebanese friend, the Adunisian poet, Basim Shawqi al-Salmaan (2). He is currently unemployed. You know him well for he lived in your house for a few days last summer. He then moved to Adunis’ house. He also published many poems in your journal, “Shi’r:” “Jaikur and the City,” “The River and Death,” and “Christ after Crucifixion.”

He now intends to return to Lebanon. Will he be able, with your help, to obtain a job that allows him to adequately earn a living for himself, his wife, his sister, and his two children? He can work as an instructor of English or Arabic language. He can also work in journalism or do translations. Continue reading The Letters of Badr Shakir al-Sayyab: #10 →

The Iraqi Poet Badr Shakir al-Sayyab

[Note: This is the ninth in a series of translations of selected letters of the noted Iraqi poet Badr Shakir al-Sayyab.]For more information on the poet, click here.]

Letter #9 5/7/1958

Baghdad:

My Dear Brother Dr. Suheil (Idris),

A most sincere Arab greeting to you,

You have, undoubtedly, asked yourself the reason for my prolonged silence. Like you, I ask myself the same question.

A whole year has passed, and I have only written two poems…. Sterility is seeping into my soul. Even when I write, I write only about this sterility. However, why do your readers need to endure the bitterness of this sterility of my soul, its barrenness and despair? It is truly a miracle that I am able to write – to write poetry of course. What offering can my arid soul impart? Continue reading The Letters of Badr Shakir al-Sayyab: #9 →

[Note: This is the eighth in a series of translations of selected letters of the noted Iraqi poet Badr Shakir al-Sayyab. For more information on the poet, click here.]

Letter #7 2/18/1957

Directorate of Public Trading, Baghdad

My Kind Brother, the Soaring Poet, Mr. Yusuf al-Khal,

Sweet greetings. I have received all four of your letters, but only laziness has caused me to postpone responding to them day after day.

In the month of September I was in Beirut, and I searched for you a lot, but to no avail. I sat at Faisal Restaurant across from the American University, and I roamed the university, but I was not lucky enough to see you or two other brothers whom I was anxious to meet, Khalil Hawi and Munah Khoury. Continue reading The Letters of Badr Shakir al-Sayyab: #8 →

[Note: This is the seventh in a series of translations of selected letters of the noted Iraqi poet Badr Shakir al-Sayyab. For information on the poet, click here.]

Letter #8 3/4/1958

Baghdad

Dear Brother, Yusuf (al-Khal),

“I have a million things to do.” These are your words that I now repeat constantly. The truth is that I feel embarrassed in front of you and my dear friend Adunis due to this silence on my part. But… if you were in my place, you would both forgive me. From early morning until long after midnight, I work constantly to earn a few dirhams…I also have a personal commitment to read and write poetry.

I have read what transpired during the Thursday gathering of Shi’r Magazine. I have also read your “exaggerations.” The colloquial language – as Adunis said – is incapable of sustaining the causes that the Modern Arab Poet writes about. Only the Communists insist that the poet should write in a language and a style that the general public understands. The general public lacks cultural awareness. If we wanted to conform to the general public, then we would need to lag behind culturally and intellectually. We would have to relinquish our depth and give up art and many other things. Poetry – like all sublime arts in our present age- is not meant to be for everyone or to be a political instrument. It is neither a movie nor a newspaper article. Continue reading The Letters of Badr Shakir al-Sayyab: #7 →