Desert Voices: Bedouin Women’s Poetry in Saudi Arabia

As the title suggests, this book is a collection of Bedouin poetry written by women over the centuries. In fact, it’s closer to the truth to say the poetry preserved in this collection has been passed down orally from generation to generation of Arab women. Desert Voices has been compiled by Moneera Al-Ghadeer who is a professor of Arabic Language and Literature at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in the United States.

Lyrics of love and desire are explored in the first English translations of the rich tapestry of Bedouin women’s poetry. The book is also a progressive move in opening up the sphere of Arabic poetry to the wider world which in turn will lead to contemporary examinations and critiques. The more negative aspects of human existence are also explored such as a grievance and mourning, which together with the positive aspects provide an insightful exploration into the cultural heritage of the Bedouins (desert dwellers).

Moneera Al-Ghadeer herself is a talented writer and a deep thinker. Along with the poems, she offers her own interpretations and examinations of the works as well as making a case that Bedouin women’s poetry can become a literary theory to take its place beside the canons of European and American literary theories.

If you have a fondness for Arab culture, literature and in particular an interest in women’s rights in the Middle East, then ‘Desert Voices’ will provide a stimulating read. You can read further reviews of this popular poetry book here: ‘Desert Voices: Bedouin Women’s Poetry in Saudi Arabia‘.

The winner of the Million’s Poet competition will be announced on the 31st of March this year and Hissa Hilal, the Saudi housewife in question, is one of the favourites to pick up the hefty financial prize. The poetry competition results will be aired on Abu Dhabi state television which receives a large following across the globe. Nabati poetry, or Bedouin poetry is the main theme of the competition and is widely popular amongst Gulf Arabs.

Islamists have become infuriated with the contents of Hissa Hilal’s poetry which condemns the rigid Islamist social conditions placed upon women in Saudi Arabia. She also criticises the use of fatwas and has labelled the actions by extremist clerics as evil as well as writing a poem about such issues which is titled ‘The Chaos of Fatwas’. As Hilal says herself, she wants to “fight extremism which has become a worrying phenomenon”.

As well as condemning the separation of the sexes in Saudi society, the brave poetess has also damned the phenomenon of Islamic suicide bombings and has labelled the perpetrators as “monsters wearing belts”. The panel members of the contest which is held in the relatively moderate city of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates have so far been impressed with the Saudi housewife and have praised her outspoken attitude and bravery in the face of severe punishment.

In a nation where women are forced to cover from head to toe, including their faces and be unable to move around or work freely without a male relative, the freedom and expression of poetry becomes so much sweeter and indeed vital.

The 53-year-old openly lesbian poet will join the ranks of great literary masters including John Dryden (the first to hold the post), William Wordsworth, Alfred Lord Tennyson and John Betjeman. Her work will include penning poems for major state occasions and events involving the Royal Family.

An official announcement will be made by the Culture Secretary Andy Burnham in the coming hours or days informing the public of the new Poet Laureate. Having missed out on the position before due to Tony Blair’s concern over Middle England’s views of a lesbian holding the post, the news will be greeted warmly by gay rights groups.

She succeeds Andrew Motion who stated earlier in the week that he was “relieved” to be leaving the job. The announcement will be made at Manchester University’s John Rylands Library.

You can read an earlier post of mine on this subject here: Carol Ann Duffy to be First Female Poet Laureate.

One of her most well known poetry books is Rapture which is a T.S. Eliot Prize winning collection. It’s a book-length love-poem and a moving act of personal testimony through the human emotions of infatuation, longing, passion, commitment, rancour, separation, and grief. With poems that will find deep resonance in the experience of most readers, it is a collection that can and does speak for us all.

“Poets are inspired by what is happening in the outside world. Their imagination absorbs it,” says veteran Pashto poet in the city of Peshawar, Rahmat Shah Sael. “That is why Pashto poets are writing about violence in one way or another.”

Poetry has a long history in the region and has often be used as an expression of cultural pride and indeed of identity. Regular poetry gatherings are arranged, despite the many dangers and threats from the Taliban. Large crowds gather to listen to poets recite their work and that of the historical figures.

Khushhal Khan Khattak, who was a warrior poet in the 17th Century is still greatly revered as is the mystic poet Rahman Baba (pictured) who died in the year 1711. They are both considered giants of Pashto poetry and literature.

“It is not the poets’ choice to write about war and violence, they are compelled to do so – to express their reaction and hatred to bloodshed,” says Darwesh Durrani, a popular Pashto poet and professor of literature in Quetta.

Young poets from across the country have written poems describing events they have witnessed with their own eyes, including the deaths of parents, children and whole villages. Some address their poems directly to the suicide bombers who sow so much destruction and pain.

Zarlasht Hafeez, a female Pashto poet has managed to publish a collection of poetry about the events in her homeland. The collection is called “Waiting for Peace” and here is a brief extract:

“The sorrow and grief, these black evenings,
Eyes full of tears and times full of sadness,
These burnt hearts, the killing of youths,
These unfulfilled expectations and unmet hopes of brides,
With a hatred for war, I call time and again,
I wait for peace for the grief-stricken Pashtuns”

If you want to read some Pashto poetry then the book below will be of particular interest to you.

Songs of Love and War: Afghan Women’s Poetry

The active voice of the Afghan woman affirms simple pleasures and bemoans widespread suffering. The poems celebrate nature, mountains, rivers, dawn, and night’s magnetic space. They are songs of war and honor, shame and love, death and beauty.

This is not the first time she has been put forward for the position. In 1999, after the death of the then incumbent Poet Laureate Ted Hughes, she narrowly lost out to Andrew Motion. Many critics claim her loss was because of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s concern with how her homosexuality would fare with Middle England.

A rather bitter Duffy said retorted: “I will not write a poem for Edward and Sophie (Earl and Countess of Wessex). No self-respecting poet should have to.”

Carol Ann Duffy was born in the Scottish city of Glasgow in 1955. At the age of 4, she and her family moved to Staffordshire in England. She went on to be educated at Saint Austin Roman Catholic Primary School, St. Joseph’s Convent School and Stafford Girls’ High School before studying philosophy from Liverpool University in 1977.

Her first collection of poetry Standing Female Nude was published in 1985. Ten years later, in 1995 she was awarded an OBE and then in 2001, a CBE. Duffy’s popularity has soared over the last couple of decades and she has even become part of the school syllabus in England and Wales.

Journalist Katharine Viner said of Ms Duffy:

“Her poems are accessible and entertaining, yet her form is classical, her technique razor-sharp. She is read by people who don’t really read poetry, yet she maintains the respect of her peers. Reviewers praise her touching, sensitive, witty evocations of love, loss, dislocation, nostalgia; fans talk of greeting her at readings ‘with claps and cheers that would not sound out of place at a pop concert’”.

An announcement on whether she will become Britain’s next Poet Laureate is expected in the coming week after the Queen’s approval. If she is promoted to the position she can expect to earn an annual salary of £5,000 in place of the ancient stipend of a “butt of sack”. She’s also be expected to write poems for the Royal Family and attend major literary events.

See: Carol Ann Duffy is the New British Poet Laureate.