A busy season for the local poetry scene gave us book launches by two prolific Dubai-based poets: Frank Dullaghan's third title, The Same Roads Back, and Zeina Hashem Beck's award-winning debut title, To Live in Autumn. Following grand individual launch events, the poets held a joint reading session at DIFC's Bookshop readers' cafe.
After reading out a few of the most characteristic and/or popular poems from their portfolios, Frank and Zeina took questions from and discussed their art with attendees. Topics on the table included the characteristics of "good poetry", free verse vs. metre and rhyme, Zeina's peculiar but apparently effective multilingual composition technique, and some anecdotes and advice on getting published and getting feedback.
Zeina's poems lend themselves well to performance, specifically the creative punctuation and the repetition of words or lines for effect. It makes pleasant reading too, though. Generally more urban in context, the poems refer to colorful personalities, and paint you-had-to-be-there experiences, many of which seem tinged with nostalgia.
Frank's use of metaphorical flourish, combined with everyday language and attention to detail, paints lucid imagery of human and natural scenery, using such phrasing as "quality of light" and "green state of grace". One is easily transported one into the moment, into the perspective of observer or participant. The seemingly mundane is rendered intimate and significant.
The differences between the lived stories of a grey-bearded Irishman and a Lebanese woman who was a college student not long ago are evident in their respective books. There's also some overarching commonality in the use of free verse and vivid descriptions of personal observations. Both books will therefore appeal to fans of this style, while offering differences in content and delivery sufficient to warrant reading both.
It's not often that theater groups get to meet the writers of plays on which they're working, but Emirati director/playwright Saleh Karama dropped in on one of the play-reading sessions of Abu Dhabi-based theater group Resuscitation Theatre last week. I have been doing readings with the group for a couple of months, and we've covered three of his plays thus far. After their success together with One More Try last season, the group will be staging more of his works in the coming months.
With each play having been originally written in Arabic, and replete with metaphor and allusion to boot (one being particularly abstract as well), there were a lot of burning questions on everyone's minds, and it was great to be able to get these out and answered. I look forward to these plays making it to stage, especially the second one.
After a well-attended launch event last month, Poetician Rewa Zeinati hosted a reading and signing of her new book Nietzsche's Camel Must Die at BookMunch in Wasl Square last night.
Wasl Square is really convenient to find and get into, being located right opposite Safa Park and its ample parking space. I used a live map to find the venue, although projecting and/or clearer night signage would have helped.
The place has a playful and vibrant look on the inside, with a striking primary color scheme of green and magenta, patterned in classic houndstooth and pinstripe. Depending on whether one wants to eat, read, or do both, one can pick from among the seating options of chair, armchair and couch. Their book collection is fairly large, mixing a number of old literary hits with select contemporary reading. There's a good stock of kids' books too.
In a mood for a light supper, I consumed a delicious combination of a hearty, sharp harira soup with a salad pairing sweet slices of pear with pungent, salty lumps of gorgonzola.
Rewa read several notes from NCMD, signing books for, and taking questions from those who stayed after. The event was somewhat cozy, as we were well into a summertime Ramadan. Even so, there was plenty of animated post-reading talk among those in attendance.
