I recently ordered “Within Flesh, Poems: In Conversation with Our Selves & Emily Dickinson.” The book arrived last month, and I wrote about it HERE.
I had some time yesterday, so I began reading it. The foreword is by poet Faleeha Hassan. Info on her is HERE, and her personal website it HERE.
Something in her first paragraph made me gasp.
Not her opening sentence, “Within Flesh is a surprising and inventive conversation between two contemporary poets and Emily Dickinson.”
Not the memory that she sought out poetry beyond “the familiar Arabic verses.”
Not her recollection of her “first brush” with Emily Dickinson, the poem “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers,” which she found in an English poetry anthology in her hometown of Najaf, Iraq.
No, ’twas her penultimate line of the opening paragraph:
“To my surprise, most (poets at Najaf’s General Union of Poets and Writers) advised against Dickinson, warning of her potential to induce depression, withdrawal, and even life abandonment.”
Something in her first paragraph made me gasp.
Not her opening sentence, “Within Flesh is a surprising and inventive conversation between two contemporary poets and Emily Dickinson.”
Not the memory that she sought out poetry beyond “the familiar Arabic verses.”
Not her recollection of her “first brush” with Emily Dickinson, the poem “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers,” which she found in an English poetry anthology in her hometown of Najaf, Iraq.
No, ’twas her penultimate line of the opening paragraph:
“To my surprise, most (poets at Najaf’s General Union of Poets and Writers) advised against Dickinson, warning of her potential to induce depression, withdrawal, and even life abandonment.”
Say what? LOL – maybe that’s what’s wrong with me -- too much Dickinson? I've exceeded the max allotment?
Well, Hassan did confess in the next line, “Despite their caution, Dickinson’s allure continued to linger inside me.” Plus, her concluding paragraph opens with, “From my encounters with Dickinson, I have learned that poetry can transcend time and borders, sparking conversations across cultures and generations.” Now that sounds more like the Dickinson I’ve come to know and love!
“Within Flesh," she attests, “challenges us, comforts us, and inspires us to dream of a better, more equitable world – one seemingly, within our reach.”
Tomorrow I’ll share a few surprises from the book’s introduction; then, in future posts I'll discuss more about the book.
Well, Hassan did confess in the next line, “Despite their caution, Dickinson’s allure continued to linger inside me.” Plus, her concluding paragraph opens with, “From my encounters with Dickinson, I have learned that poetry can transcend time and borders, sparking conversations across cultures and generations.” Now that sounds more like the Dickinson I’ve come to know and love!
“Within Flesh," she attests, “challenges us, comforts us, and inspires us to dream of a better, more equitable world – one seemingly, within our reach.”
Tomorrow I’ll share a few surprises from the book’s introduction; then, in future posts I'll discuss more about the book.
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