“Heraclitus” occupies a special place in the history of the Kirmanjki variant of Kurdish language and its poetry, as the title poem of the first-ever collection of contemporary Kirmanjki poetry, whose publication by M. Malmîsanij in 1988 stood in proud defiance of centuries of state-sanctioned repression and displacement. While some 60 books of poetry have since been published, "My Name Is a Sin" (Kashkul Books, 2023) represents the first-ever translations to appear in English.
Jiyar Homer & Shook on "Heraclitus" |
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What Sparks Poetry: Philip Metres on "Qasida for Abdel Wahab Yousif"
"The qasida begins with human longing. The moderns didn’t invent it! It was in the human heart. This is the nasīb, which means 'fate,' the poet is in a nostalgic mood. Sometimes, pursuing the beloved, the poet will come upon the remains of a camp, the beloved’s caravan, causing a consideration of what has passed. If it begins with longing and its endless distances (thanks, Robert Hass), it doesn’t stay there, but rather moves into the trouble of the world." |
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