Things I Didn't Know I Loved*

* If you are a dreamer, come in.
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer...
If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.
Come in! Come in!
(Shel Silverstein)

August 08, 2006

Suheir Hammad

'Where has my language gone?
The poet searches for words to wrap around these times
Make them sense Make them pretty Make them useful'

from 'Beyond Words'

I went to see this girl/woman read in Cairo about two months ago.
I was blown away. I am rarely blown away.
Suheir Hammad is a Palestinian-American, born in Jordan and raised in Brooklyn. Above and beyond all that, an incredible poet and performer. (She's even won a Tony award for her work on a Broadway show, Def Poetry Jam). I'm tempted to call her a musician - her poems have such a strong beat to them, and she has such rhythm when she 'reads' ('raps' would be more accurate). Won't even try to do her justice - you can just watch her here.

Oh, did I mention that she's hot?

What I Will

I will not
dance to your war
drum. I will
not lend my soul nor
my bones to your war
drum. I will
not dance to your
beating. I know that beat.
It is lifeless. I know
intimately that skin
you are hitting. It
was alive once
hunted stolen
stretched. I will
not dance to your drummed
up war. I will not pop
spin beak for you. I
will not hate for you or
even hate you. I will
not kill for you. Especially
I will not die
for you. I will not mourn
the dead with murder nor
suicide. I will not side
with you nor dance to bombs
because everyone else is
dancing. Everyone can be
wrong. Life is a right not
collateral or casual. I
will not forget where
I come from. I
will craft my own drum. Gather my beloved
near and our chanting
will be dancing. Our
humming will be drumming. I
will not be played. I
will not lend my name
nor my rhythm to your
beat. I will dance
and resist and dance and
persist and dance. This heartbeat is louder than
death. Your war drum ain't
louder than this breath.

Suheir Hammad

Update Uno: Watch Suheir Hammad read 'First Writing Since' [Sept 11] at Def Poetry Jam here. Her words are harsher - less 'poetic', less abstract, more directly political and exacting - but her demeanor is more understated somehow . Muchas gracias, Os.

Update-at-Gunpoint Dos: Thanks to Booboo for combing the (eih?) Commonwealth of Canada for me for Suheir Hammad's latest poetry collection, 'Zaatar Diva'. (Sa7 kida?) Sorry - including CD!

posted by Reformed Cynic # 12:46 PM