"nizar" poems
“Woman does not emerge from man’s ribs. Not ever. It’s he who emerges from her womb.” Nizar Qabbani.
1. In the beginning
God asked himself a question and only made half the answer.
The Bible says
That when the Lord realised the world needed a woman
He searched through man, took a rib, and made her.
2. Eve, all apple and velvet.
I know you didn’t come kicking and screaming.
You, grafted onto man like a prize fruit
then cooked up like a red wine sauce all acid and hiss.
After the Bible took away the one thing it thought you were good for in the first place
it had you hold hands with the devil,
all flirtation and fashion,
made you sound like your body was empty of anything else.
Eve,
Mother of mothers.
Carved yourself from the rubble the same way David pulled himself from the stone.
Don’t tell me a woman is ever a safe place to rest.
Don’t think Eve ever let herself be an after thought.
3. On the third day
before the flood and the fire and the rubble,
God made himself a garden and called it Eden.
Or Eve.
Or something.
He stopped, closed his eyes and finally smiled because at last he had made something holier than himself.
He tried every fruit, spat the seeds like broken teeth.
Over the next few nights Eve kissed her life into Adam’s ribs,
told him it was
all good.
When The Lord finally moulded Adam from the clay of the garden, the wind whispered and knew.
4. People say that a great woman is just like a fine wine - full bodied and getting better with age.
Tell that to your mother.
Tell that to every woman who has ever fought for a cause.
A woman’s blood is worth so much more than communion but men just love a commodity.
5. I close my eyes and I am standing in a garden.
Her name is Eve:
her hands are ripe fruit;
head a forest fire;
body sinking under the weight of a great flood.
I say: “Eve how do I think myself into forest?
Will you show me how to become forest fire? All skin and bones and burning map.
You perfect absolute.”
6. So I turn back. Pull her name from my ribs like I was the first and I came from her.
And then my hands, gentle gravediggers.
And later I looked up and there was nothing except earth and light and earth and light and her
and it was over again.
So I sat down. Took a breath - the first real breath, hands shaking like the corners of pages.
7. I looked for the first time and I could see for miles.
I could see for miles.
Oct 5, 2014
Oct 5, 2014 at 5:22 AM UTC
When you find a man
Who transforms
Every part of you
Into poetry,
Who makes each one of your hairs
Into a poem,
When you find a man,
Capable,
As I am
Of bathing and adorning you
With poetry,
I will beg you
To follow him without hesitation,
It is not important
That you belong to me or him
But that you belong to poetry.
Jun 28, 2011
Jun 28, 2011 at 2:50 PM UTC
Love Compared
I do not resemble your other lovers, my lady
should another give you a cloud
I give you rain
Should he give you a lantern, I
will give you the moon
Should he give you a branch
I will give you the trees
And if another gives you a ship
I shall give you the journey.
Apr 23, 2015
Apr 23, 2015 at 6:41 PM UTC
Your beauty doesn't compare with the women, but with the sky
And when you smile,
As Nizar Qabbani* I know the difference between you and the sky :
"When you laugh, my love, i forget about the sky"
I look to a woman, the night gets jealous of her hair's blackness
And the day gets jealous of the prettiness on her face
I see her shining like a pearl...
All the seas come over her
And I as a sailor
As a pirate
As a Boat
As a fish
As an octopus
As a mermaid...
Swim in your eyes without decision !
Aug 24, 2015
Aug 24, 2015 at 10:36 AM UTC
A for Anne Sexton, again and again!
The love and the anger had come back again!
B for Bob Dylan, ballad of a thin man!
Walk into a room with a pencil in your hand!
C for Charles Baudelaire, am not shore on his French!
D for Dylan Thomas, that child's Christmas made sense!
E for Edgar Allan Poe Annabel Lee!
It was a many a many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea!
F for Francisco de Quevedo, the Spanish I couldn't understand!
G for George Eliot, her proper names Mary Anne!
H for homer the Iliad book 13!
Wolfs in the Forrest, and the battle could be seen!
I for Isabella Velancy Crawford, A Harvest song!
Her poetry was so lovely, and nothing spelt wrong!
J for Jim Morrison, My bestest poet of all!
Is music is "king" his rock stood so tall!
K for Kahlil Gibran, I awaken I stare at the sun!
An artist, a poet, a writer, but sadly all his works been done!
L for Lewis Carrol, the hunting of the snark!
M for Matsuo Basho, the true master of his heart!
N for Nizar Qabbani, a poet that was so sweet!
A diplomat a publisher, I hope you R.I.P.
O for Oscar Wilde, in the good room - A Harmony!
Ivory hands, on the Ivory keys!
Strayed in a fitful fantasy!
P for Pablo Picasso, the morning of the world!
A painter, a sculptor, a print maker, a ceramicist not known to us all!
Q for Quincy Troupe, skulls along the river!
What a greater poet, and what a greater performer!
R for Robert Frost, nothing gold can stay!
1864 - 1963!
S for Sylvia Plath, she wrote love is a parallax!
She also got found with her head in the oven, the poor soul died of inhaling gas R.I.P
T for Ted Hughes, a poet and children's writer!
U for all you poets!
Your futures looking brighter!
V for Victor Hugo, the grave and the Rose!
He wrote about the Dews of dawn!
And always mentioned his Rose!
W for William Shakespeare, a poet that he was!
He'll be up there somewhere special!
Playing and writing for the Gods!
X for --xtra space, I couldn't leave it blank!
Y for Yoda Buson!
And Z will have to stay blank-----------
Mar 6, 2020
Mar 6, 2020 at 8:53 AM UTC