Live Encounters Poetry & Writing March 2024.
The Fake Raid, poems by Walid EL Khachab.
Translated from Arabic by Dr. Salwa Gouda.
The Fake Raid
The most beautiful childhood memories after 1967
When my grandmother takes out the sprouted beans in the morning
So, I know that we will spend the night in a raid
We light the candles with anticipation
Yet we watch TV
I do not like TV-deprived evenings
I do not understand the difference between a power outage
And the imagined enemy raids
Our windows were blue
And its glass is sealed with tape
And the entrance to our building is hidden behind brick walls
And our city’s garages are the bunkers and basements of our homes as Well
When I was a kid, we used to spell letters
We learn the first words:
Dad… Mom… Raid… Bunker.
School Yard
I do not like going to school
Because Ashraf Wissa beats me
He runs to Madam Aida to complain to her
Because of the surprise, I do not defend myself
The injustice is terrible
The school yard is the first exercise in slander.
© Walid EL Khachab
Walid EL Khachab is an Egyptian poet, critic and academic at York University in Canada. He has published more than three poetry collections and several critical books. Walid Al-Khachab got the opportunity to work and complete his studies at a Canadian university. He gradually turned into an immigrant university professor, but this immigration did not sever his connection with the reality of cultural life in the Arab world, as he was active in many initiatives based on confirming the presence of Arab creative voices in and outside Canada.
Dr. Salwa Gouda is an Egyptian literary translator, critic, and academic at the English Language and Literature Department at Ain-Shams University. She holds a PhD in English literature and criticism. She received her education at Ain-Shams University and California State University in San Bernardino. She has published several academic books, including “Lectures in English Poetry, and “Introduction to Modern Literary Criticism” and others. She has also contributed to the translation of “The Arab Encyclopedia for Pioneers,” which includes poets and their poetry, philosophers, historians, and men of letters, under the supervision of UNESCO. Additionally, her poetry translations have been published in various international magazines.