Drawn from a collection as provocatively titled as I Don’t Love My Father, this Translation Tuesday features two poems by the Omani poet Aisha Al Saifi who, at a young age, has established herself as a major voice within contemporary Omani poetry. Be it her clarion call to her fellow countrywomen (“[who] speak like singing”) or when she embodies the persona of a prophet (one who “[grows] bigger / Like a poem composed by an intoxicated poet”)—Aisha’s verse is driven by a narrative propulsion that expands her words into a compelling world. In Ali Al Rawahi’s translation, this bold voice which at each turn of phrase manages to be lyrical and declarative at once is a powerful expression of poetry’s ability to both move and mobilise. 

My Countrywomen 

My countrywomen who
encompass my blood with poems
and rapture
and prayers
My countrywomen
whose anklets
are like doves over the water
And their eyes are mountain dews in the remains

My countrywomen
Who speak like singing
And offer their pains to passersby 

The women … they are my friends
tired from
Masculine absurdity
And from anguish
that does not distinguish between
The temporary self from the eternal soul 

who trade their disappointments
For a cup of chamomile tea in the morning
And with a single piece of walnut
And a confectioned trail of words  READ MORE…