Abdourahman A. Waberi
Translated from the French by Nancy Naomi Carlson

my revolt was in vain
silence gives me its breast
its music
simple, sincere
flows like ablution water
that preludes the call to prayer

the words born on the lips of the Guide
transport knowledge’s wine
by the barrel
I pursued this elixir as soon as the sun
lovingly drank up the mist before my eyes
from temple to temple
and soon the moon out of pity’s sake gave me a pebble
orphaned from quarterly vigil

a shaft of light precedes me

and my back
in turn
clumsily reflects
the slender harp-shaped form of the being
who kindly walked
in my faltering steps

my revolt was in vain
no regrets
the journey is long
tomorrow I’ll set off again
with dawn slung over my shoulde
from the book NAMING THE DAWN / Seagull Books
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“Access” comes from Abdourahman Waberi’s second collection of poems, "Naming the Dawn" (Seagull Books), and, like the other poems in this volume, is deeply spiritual and grounded in the Koran. The poet, on the path to beauty and truth, reminds us “the journey is long” and to appreciate the “simple, sincere” music of silence.

Nancy Naomi Carlson on"Access"
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"A Review-in-Dialogue of Douglas Kearney"

Dean Rader and Victoria Chang discuss Douglas Kearney's "Sho." "Reading Kearney’s poems makes me wonder about the poem’s relationship to the reader. I genuinely feel alive and also eaten alive while reading these poems....I’m also fascinated by Kearney’s avoidance of lyric epiphanies, narrative, and overt arguments."

via LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS
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"Unlike volumes that map a career, guiding readers through each book a poet has published, The Threadbare Coat offers poems from various publications sequenced to lead us anew up paths and across hillsides, to 'the fort of stillness' or 'the quiet island,' into 'woods & water' and 'sweet vernal grass,' at the speed of footsteps or the 'speed of the running wave.'"
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