A Bahraini polyglot has released a collection of his poetry, weaving an intricate tapestry of mysticism and the literary traditions of Eastern poetry with the universal lingua franca.
In his debut collection A Breeze From The East, that hit shelves this month, Wael Almahdi has penned his verses in a style of his own creation called Mashriqi English (Mashriqi meaning ‘Eastern’ in Arabic).
In the 102-page book, Wael weaves Arabic and Persian words into poems in English, while emulating the sensibilities of classical Sufi poetry.
“I thought that it would be a very interesting literary and poetic experiment if I wrote the poetry in English, while including Arabic and Persian themes and vocabulary,” the 45-year-old told GulfWeekly.
“It is simply contemporary English with a dose of Eastern ideas and vocabulary.”
Wael, a dentist by profession, began experimenting with this style five years ago on Instagram @words.from.the.east, aiming to reimagine the medium through which readers can experience poems written in the Islamic tradition – while making it accessible to people who spoke English.
“Our (Sufi) poetry is interested in transcendental and spiritual experiences. It features common metaphors of flowers, nightingales… symbols, which are usually not always represented in English,” the Saar resident said.
https://www.gdnonline.com/Details/1367154/Bringing-cultures-together
