Twelve Female Poets Gather for "48 Hours of Poetry"
Beautiful poetry in prose recited by soft voices flowed through the ancient house. This poetry had neither harsh sounds nor obscure meanings which allowed the words to fully penetrate the listeners. Feelings of passion, sorrow, agony, rebellion even desire were all present there that night and awakened the hearts of the poets who silently but openly revealed their presence among the audience. These two beautiful evenings grabbed our full attention and caused applause which even the cold stones of the place felt. These two beautiful evenings of female Arab poetry will be remembered by poetry-lovers not only because they listened but also because they gathered to listen.
The poet Hala Mohamed said, "The aim of this performance was to create a kind of poetry that related to the city, an idea that a group of friends had and developed and which was later materialized. The poets' compliance helped us." She was asked by what standards the poets were chosen and she said the following: "the poem is the standard, it speaks for itself, and there aren't any important poets and non-important poets. There have been great poets who have written important poems and how have also written average poems. We tried to have a similar type of poem and I think we've succeeded. I also believe that the injustices facing women in poetry are not directed just to women, but that men and women poets face the same kind of injustice, or I can say that culture itself is subject to injustice."
Mrs. Rehab Naser, director of the Art House, whose Tiatro was used by these poets said, "this is a place of poetry and culture, and even though the first meeting was held by female poets it doesn't mean that next time it won't be male poets or writers." She also said that a large number of people attended the event and that the presence of poetry-lovers is the most important.
The event was sponsored by Al-Aous publishing house which supported the idea from the very beginning.
The event was presented by artists Ghassan Massoud and Amal Arafeh. On the first night, the female poets were: Lina Altebi from Syria, Nujoom Alghanem from the UAE, Dalya Riyadh from Iraq, Banah Baidon from Lebanon, Nawal Alali from Jordan and Ashgan Alhendi from Saudi Arabia.
On the second night, the poets were: Waf'a Umrani from Morocco, Fatmeh Qendil from Egypt, Samar Abd Al-gaber from Palestine, Lorka Siti from Lebenon, Parween Habib from Bahrain and Hala Mohamed from Syria. As the poets recited their works, the Syrian musician Rahaf Shekhani played the background music. Thara met with some of these poets and will publish their interviews on their webpage.
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