Contemporary Poetry | The Refugee Experience


Recall our reading of the poetry of Maram al-Massri and Adonis.

In September 2015. we read an article from AlJazeera about contemporary Syrian poetry, Leigh Cuen's "'A new poetry' emerges from Syria's civil war'", which reflects on the changes on Syrian identity:

"Today there is literature coming out of Syria that we could have never even dreamed of just a few years ago," Atrash says.


Rather than relying on metaphors and allegorical images, these new poems rely on literal, visceral descriptions, with a newfound emphasis on a united Syrian identity instead of religious symbols. For instance, a poem she translated by Najat Abdul Samad, called "When I am overcome by weakness", reads:


'I bandage my heart with the determination of that boy / they hit with an electric stick on his only kidney until he urinated blood. / Yet he returned and walked in the next demonstration… / I bandage it with the outcry: 'Death and not humiliation.''"


"'Poetry is a witness to suffering' caused by Syria's civil war" from Los Angeles Times

Contemporary Refugee Poetry from PRI


Zena Agha-- "The Sea is Big" -- Harvard University

   
Mutaz Alnass -- "You don't belong here" -- Macalester College

   
Khadija Charif--- "She woke up" --University of Minnesota

The Poetry of Warsan Shire

Mike Niconchuk's blog entry includes some verses from Warson Shire's poetry. 


 Warsan Shire, The Woman Who Gave Poetry to Beyonce's Lemonade from The New York Times

Somali-British poet

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