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14th Anniversary Edition, Live Encounters Poetry & Writing Volume Seven Nov-Dec 2023.
Baghdad night, poems by Ali Al-Shalah.
Baghdad night
Ambers sleep in stories
And I am walking with your hands to you
A night that Scheherazade did not pass by
And Shahrayar did not listen to her.
Bridges touch us by going
Bridges touch us on the way back
Two hearts of the anxiety of lapis lazuli
Cutting the morning thread with the fever of kisses
I am wandering around the palm trees that concerned about us
Pointing at us there
Here
Come on, wake up from death
O my ascendant ancestors
From the night of Baghdad
once upon a time
In the new times
A man in love
At night in Baghdad.
Old text Prescription
There is no cure without compassion, my lady
Your heart tired of me is tired for me
And your absence is a new river of ashes
There is no cure other than old words and loaves of tears, my lady
Put what you can of your pride on your lips
and weave with the intensity of hesitation
There is no treatment other than walking towards each other and touching.
Here the fever of feelings is broken by tears, and the temptation of those
who imitate us remains moaning us
There is no cure for this life except death broken and weak
There is no cure except you because you are half modesty and half-life
There is no cure except you
Lie in my mirrors
She did not tell the whole truth
When the thief stared at her
She claimed he was dark and handsome
He looks like a man in a noble crowd
She did not tell the whole truth
When a paper lady stared at her
She carried her shadow for the soft clothes
She held her mouth to smile
She carried her voice to sing
She shouted to the female seductresses,
“Here you are in the muttering of the eyes.”
She did not tell the whole truth
When she fell from the corners of the wall, and the place remained
Informing the stories of brokenness to the sighted
I wish she had not gossiped, for the passers-by believed what she gossiped
And the false words remained in the cracks of mirrors
She did not tell the whole truth
And she cried at the lack of words
I wish mirrors were mirrors
© Ali Al-Shalah
Ali Al-Shalah (1965) born in Babylon, Iraq. He obtained a BA in Literature from College of Arts, University of Baghdad, 1987 and MA in Modern Literature, Yarmouk University, Jordan, 1996.He also obtained PhD in Philosophy and History, University of Bern, Switzerland, 2007. He issued five poetry collections and five books on criticism. He was the Founder and President of many cultural institutions, events and festivals including the following: The founder and president of the Swiss Arab Cultural Center in 1995 and Al-Mutanabbi International Cultural Festival / Switzerland 2000, President of Babel House for Cultures, Arts and Media, with two branches in Baghdad and Babylon, 2003, Founder and President of the Babylon Festival for International Cultures and Arts 2010, Chairman of the Culture and Media Committee in the Iraqi Parliament 2010 and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees and President of the Iraqi Media Network 2014-2018.