An Evening of Caged Beasts Seven Post-Modernist Urdu Poets

by Farrukhi, Asif; Pritchett, Frances W.; Farrukhi, Asif

• ISBN13: 9780195791457
• ISBN10: 0195791452
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-05-11
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The contributing seven poets are seeking to re-invent poetry and create a new mood in the Urdu poetry from Pakistan. This book brings together selections from the work of these poets who are situated somewhat outside the mainstream.

Table of Contents

Editor's Introduction	vii
Translator's Introduction	xx
Afzal Ahmed Syed
I Invented Poetry	1	(4)
Descent from Tel Za`atar	5	(10)
What Did the Sea Tell You?	15	(4)
If They Should Learn	19	(4)
To Live One Day More	23	(2)
The Verdict	25	(2)
Love	27	(4)
We Live Without Asking Anyone	31	(4)
Is Fire the Best Buyer?	35	(4)
We Should Forget	39	(2)
You Live in Beautiful Circles	41	(4)
She Dries her Tears with a Dainty Hairdryer	45	(2)
If My Voice Is Not Reaching You	47	(2)
Life Has Been Made Easy For Us	49	(2)
The One for Whom No One is Waiting	51	(2)
If We Did Not Sing Songs	53	(2)
You Look Very Beautiful Asleep	55	(2)
Poem	57	(2)
A Death Sentence in Two Languages	59	(2)
Kristallnacht	61	(2)
If You Were Miriam Konskivich	63	(2)
Only Unimportant Poets	65	(2)
Azra Abbas
A Poem	67	(2)
A Dot Might Appear	69	(2)
A Life Divided into Pieces	71	(2)
Another Life	73	(2)
This Mind	75	(2)
Avowal	77	(2)
After You Come	79	(4)
It's Hard to Write a Poem	83	(2)
It's Easy to Write a Poem	85	(2)
A Poem Comes Every Day	87	(4)
Instead of This Life	91	(2)
If My Hands Are Freed	93	(2)
It's Hard to Remove the Grime	95	(4)
The Beginning of Exile	99	(2)
Sarwat Hussain
A Poem Can Start From Anywhere	101	(4)
Tree, my Friend	105	(4)
Surrounded by Words	109	(4)
The Moment it's Morning	113	(2)
I Was Thinking of You	115	(2)
A Bridge is Being Built	117	(2)
So Many Colours	119	(2)
Here in the Hinterlands	121	(2)
Until Evening Falls	123	(2)
At the Edge of a Difficult Day	125	(2)
I Want to Die the Death of a Man	127	(2)
Paperweight	129	(2)
Mehran, Give Me	131	(2)
Ghazal	133	(2)
Sara Shagufta
Half a Room	135	(8)
For Sheli, My Daughter	143	(2)
Lines from a Poem	145	(4)
A Debt	149	(4)
The House of Empty Eyes	153	(2)
The Bird Stayed in the Room	155	(4)
The Bird's Eyes Open	159	(2)
Perhaps the Dust Might Call Me Again	161	(6)
The Moon-Debt	167	(2)
Zeeshan Sahil
Love	169	(2)
A Poem in a Dream	171	(2)
The Institute	173	(2)
White Carpet	175	(2)
New Policy	177	(2)
The Prisoner's Telescope	179	(2)
Place	181	(2)
Tyranny	183	(2)
Four Walls	185	(2)
The Whistle	187	(2)
A Lifeless Poem	189	(2)
The Rat's Birthday	191	(2)
Bulldozer	193	(2)
King	195	(2)
What Do You Do?	197	(2)
To the International Olympic Committee	199	(4)
Tanveer Anjum
Hopes	203	(2)
In the Last Petals	205	(2)
Not a Sound	207	(2)
What Happened This Time	209	(4)
Nancy	213	(4)
For the Price of My Life	217	(2)
Picking Thorns	219	(4)
Saiduddin
The Singing Stone	223	(2)
Poem	225	(2)
A Tree's Terror	227	(2)
The Shepherd's Dream	229	(2)
The Blind Man and the Telescope	231	(2)
Gloves	233	(2)
The Iron Suit	235	(4)
Poem	239	(2)
Ants	241	(4)
The Last Page	245