A Bird is Not a Stone

Probably the best ten quid I've spent all year. I bought my copy of A Bird is Not a Stone in the book tent at the Edinburgh International Book Festival not really knowing what to expect.
Using 'bridge' or literal translations of poems by 25 Palestinian artists, 29 Scottish poets have written new versions of these poems with the originals printed alongside. The book aims to be 'a cultural exchange, giving readers an insight into the political, social and emotional landscape of today's Palestine..', which may sound a bit academic but the poems themselves are often beautiful evocations of loss, occupation, love, children, death. Political, particular and universal.

 To illustrate how the poetry in this book works on several levels, here's the shortest poem, written by Liz Lochhead.

 'Poverty'

 by Tareq Al-Karmy
Bridge translation by Sandra Ernst

 All the Viagra in the world
won't
make the economy
stand up.

 This is a wonderful book that deserves to be bought and cherished.
A Bird is Not a Stone.  An anthology of Palestinian poetry. Edited by Henry Bell & Sarah Irving with Forewords by Liz Lochhead and Maya Abu Al-Hayyat. Published by Freight Books 2014. 

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