São Paulo – Life in Palestine is portrayed in poetry by Brazilian authors in the book Qasaêd ila Filastein, or Poems for Palestine, due for launch this Wednesday (19th) in São Paulo.
The book features works by 20 Brazilian poets who wrote about events in the Arab country at request of Cláudio Daniel, himself a poet and the director of literature at the São Paulo Cultural Centre.
Daniel used to be sent poems about Palestine to publish on his e-magazine, Zunái, and that during the World Social Forum Free Palestine, in 2012, he published the first print version of works on the subject. “Afterwards, more and more poets came up and eventually I brought together the material (for the book),” he explains.
Only two of the authors featured are of Arab ascent: Emir Mourad and Khaled Fayes Mahassen. “The others are Brazilian and have no connection with the Middle East. They simply follow the news and are expressing their solidarity towards the Palestinian people,” says Daniel. He and Mahassen are the book’s organizers.
The first edition of the book is entirely in Portuguese. “The second edition of the book, which we will release before the end of the year, will be bilingual, in Arabic Portuguese. Once we have this bilingual edition, we will ship some 50 copies to the West Bank, to the Palestinian National Authority,” says Daniel.
Read below one of the book’s poems:
A Paz**
the best people in the world
are lost
I would like to say
that they have no place to go
but that is a lie
I even thought I would invite them
here
but I have no here
I would like to call out to each of them
by name
to hand them a plate
a piece of cutlery
my heart
my feet
but it is a lie saying I have no here
my place is Jerusalem
my home is Palestine
and the best people in the world
are here
**Lalo Arias (freely translated from Portuguese into English)
Service
Launch of book Poems for Palestine
March 19th at 7:00 pm
Where: Bar Canto Madalena
Medeiros de Albuquerque St., 471
São Paulo – São Paulo
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
