Long Rotated Poems

Fadwa Tuqan has been called the Grand Dame of Palestinian letters and The Poet of Palestine. These are my translations of Fadwa Tuqan poems originally written in Arabic.



Enough for Me
by Fadwa Tuqan 
loose translation/interpretation by...

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English translations of Arabic poems by Fadwa Tuqan aka "The Poet of Palestine"

Enough for Me
by Fadwa Tuqan 
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Enough for me to lie in the earth,
to be buried in her,
to sink...

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The pencil now resting the image was 'testing' for the creature before him, (his badly-drawn drawin') had come out 'not right' somewhat twisted and tight.

The picture in question, it burst with suggestion, for lines that...

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An old farmer, his wife and little daughter,  had dinner in their farm house before going to sleep,

A gang of four thieves, showed up on the farm in a dirty, old truck,  to...

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All things that glow and move,
all things that change and pass,
I gather their delight
as in a burning-glass;
Judith Wright

The Queen's Conjurer
1.
'Given to magic and uncanny arts'
'Art mathematical' to make strange works
 Genius of movement artificial
Mechanical scarab...

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Lisa and I had a party to hit-up. I can’t stay inside all the time, not on a Friday night anyway and a rooftop is the perfect place to mull over big questions and get...

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IF EVER I HAD A COUNTRY: LXXIX -  Bang! Bang! Who Shot Me Down like an Un-licensed Dog !

IF ever I had a country, a country certainly 
not subject to the whistle of a...

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mind that thinks
heart that feels
senses five

reflect

thoughts vary
emotions differ
senses too can ebb

yet

we are alive
in the waking state
but what of dreamless sleep

where are we then
we recall it not
yet awake from it nevertheless 

so

are we not the screen...

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Leslie Holden came from East Adelaide a South Australia town 
When on 26 May 1915 he enlisted in the 4th Light Horse of the AIF renown
He was a driver when the 4th left for Egypt...

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When it stopped and I saw the target, a handsome 16 year old, part of me wanted to jump up and run. This party wasn’t with my usual friends - except my BFF Kim was...

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Her long sleeved robe matched the hue of the plants so perfectly 
that it was hard to tell where the rest of the color and her form began. 
Her skin was a papery, ghostly white....

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There were three wings at the veterans home.C wing was for the seriously ill .B wing was for those
Who were relatively without relatives.Not really unwell just unwanted.Finally the wing I worked on
for seven years A...

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Lighthouse keeper vacancy announced
Envelope delivered; contents read aloud
A smile turned into laughter, then into a shout
Parents and Son hugged before he set off.

Applicants sitting quietly, Into the room strides a man 
Age etched on his...

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He sat himself down on the edge that evening with the gravest of sadness trickling with his tears and a whimper that shook his body. As he fixed his position to one more suitably comfortable,...

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I awoke just as the ship exited the black hole
My mouth was dry, and the yearning for my love ones revisited my sole
Something moved, I saw it in my peripheral view
It was as big as...

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spinning on high speed mostly out of control
the washing machine failed to conclude any
of its operation according to a wished for manual

given at birth he had not much choice in the matter
due to the lottery...

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During a session when I was young,
My therapist asked about sexual assualt.
Me being young and unaware of the event,
I replied quickly and confidentely with a no.
"Well... actually, yes." said my mother in a final tone.
I...

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Tears of such just this a random thought
Sadness or joys for the fleshy beating heart
Unseemly unseeking I'm not looking straight forward
Lamented chess piece ivory casted glass on the board now

In seeking my forwarded righteous mind...

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I received your gift today, as it flew overhead, carried on a wind from the east, a bouquet of red, yellow and blue balloons, tied together with string, could not have been one hundred feet...

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A simple toy mother gave me 
on my sixth birthday, 
the best gift I ever got.
Its gentle turn creating changing color design, 
and shifting patterns, mesmerized me, 
filled my transfixed childhood vision.
I can’t resist looking...

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I was born in 1937 I'm nearly 83
I would still like the chance
For someone to dance with me
I put the radio on and sway around the room
Sometimes with my husband
But mostly with the broom
In the...

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Encased in the spheres were hideous creatures of biblical account
Eight legs with a scorpion sting that made you spew your guts out
The spheres raced along a few inches off the ground 
As they harvested the...

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So God created to say let there be and it was so or were so now again spoken again words he took one of  man ribs from the body man while he slept So...

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For awhile, I thought I had.

New love. 
New dreams. 
New smiles.

Letting go, the small things that hurt.

They are tiny compared to past, trashed confidence.

Never quite finding my true place in the equation.
Maybe the answer is...

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"True, I talk of dreams and things to be
That bemete nothing but vain fantasy
Because they lie in the child of an idled man
And yet you choose not to understand."

In all my pain and distress
Broken hearted...

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