Modern Sudanese Poetry

Adil Babikir is a translator and an Arabic content manager at Mubadala Investment Company in Abu Dhabi. He has translated several works, including Mansi: A Rare Man in His Own Way by Tayeb Salih and two novels by Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin. Matthew Shenoda is a writer and educator whose poems have appeared in a variety of journals and anthologies. His latest collection is Seasons of Lotus, Seasons of Bone.

“No list of writing from Sudan would be complete without poetry, and this is a well overdue collection. The excellent selections cover the last six decades and include most of the classical names such as Mohammed Abdul-Hayyand Mahjoub Sharif, as well as some of the younger writers working today. It fills a yawning gap and, hopefully, will inspire others to pursue the same course.”-Jamal Mahjoub, The Guardian “This is an unprecedented accomplishment not only in translation of modern Sudanese poetry but also scholarship on its history, evolution, poetics, and aesthetics. . . . This book is a great addition to the library of Arab poetry in translation that should appeal to scholars and the general public with interest in Arabic poetry.”-Salah M. Hassan, Goldwin Smith Professor of Africana Studies and History of Art and Visual Studies at Cornell University “Sudanese literature has long been a significant contributor to Arabic and world letters and culture. The thoughtful, provocative introduction in this anthology, combined with the clear-eyed lyric transformation of the poems into English, honor poetry everywhere. Just as in Iraq, Yemen, Morocco, or the United States, the weight of collective history and ethnic and linguistic diversity emerges to forge these Sudanese poems into art, both bound to and liberated from the national frame. Details matter, nuance is essential. And yet the story of Sudanese poetry is the story of poetry all over the world. From blaze to breeze, this is a beautiful book.”-Fady Joudah, Palestinian American physician and author of the poetry collection The Earth in the Attic

• Foreword, by Matthew Shenoda    Acknowledgments    Introduction: Notes on Modern Sudanese Poetry    Khalil FarahMy Beloved Aazza    Muhammad el-Mahdi el-MagzoubWedding Parade    Idris Jamma’A Poet    In the Spring of Love    Mohammed el-FayturiDig No Grave for Me    A Roaming Dervish’s Stanza    Yaaqut al-Arsh    Jayli Abdel RahmanMigrating from Sai    Mohyiddin FarisThe Wharf and the Walkway Rhythms    The Horse and the Wind    Homeland    Taj el-Sir el-HassanAn Afro-Asian Song    El-Nur Osman AbbakerThe Exile and the Kingdom    Mohammed el-Makki IbrahimA Drib of Your Nectar    A Farm on the Hill    Two Love Poems and a Carnival    Songs for October    Mustapha SanadThe Old Sea    The Lost Violins    Abdel Raheem Abu ZikraDeparture at Night    The Night Girl    Ali Abdel QayyoumWho Triggered the Stone’s Tongue?     Muhammad Abdul-HaiThe Signs Ode    Kamal ElgizouliEncounter    Whispers    A Cell the Size of New Year’s Eve    Monologue    Aalim AbbasThe Pre-Eruption Silence    Mahjoub SharifThe Homesick Sparrow    Crazy in Love with You    I Say It without Fear    Buffoon!    Mahgoub KbaloThe Golden Scythe Song    Deng Malo: A Biography    Pastoral Scriptures    Fidaili Jamma’The Silent Rose    A Sun on the Window    Walking a Tightrope    Abdulqadir AlkutayabiThe Shores of Your Eyes    I Miss Something    Mohammed el-Hassan Salim HimmaidUncle Abdur Raheem    Nura and the Time-Tested Dream    Hashim SiddigA Story of a Revolution    A Tale of the Rose and the Street    Azhari Mohammed AliA Starting Point    Al-Saddig al-RaddiSongs of Solitude    Rawda el-HajHeart’s Confessions    A New Ebb in the High Tide Season    Rugaia WarragA Frosted Cry    A Tribute to Winter    The Spider’s Text: Millennium Messages to Life    Khalid Hassan OthmanAll Alone    Najlaa Osman EltomUnder Abundant Shades    Tuesday’s Dilemma    An Acacia Bush in Labor    Mamoun EltilibThe Fall of Angels    Boi John AwangWrapped in Grief    Hatim Al KinaniSkies    Nylawo AyulOn the Bank of River Sobat    An Amulet for the Mango Tree    Notes    References    List of Contributors