Where I Wanted More

Poems of Arab Andalusia by Cola Franzen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a very accessible collection of poetry that gives the reader entry into an exciting time and place that one could hardly reach otherwise. Originally written in Arabic and collected about 800 years ago in Andalusia, which is now in Spain but was then under Moorish control (and had been about 500 years at that point), it includes poems written centuries before that. There is such a mixture of cultures and peoples coming together in that period in that area--Christians, Jews, Muslims; Arabs, Berbers, Goths; speakers of Arabic, Spanish, all of their variants, as well as other languages--and such a melding of their various histories that I find it amazingly rich. This poetry reflects much of that, which is what attracted me in the first place. But there's more.

For one, it's a beautiful translation. It's odd, though; the translator worked with the Spanish version of these originally Arabic works. As is so often the case, necessarily, the formal rules of meter and rhyme that shaped the originals is not represented in the English version. I'm okay with that. In fact, I prefer it. Without imposing those constraints, the language and meaning and imagery and (many of the) figures of speech come through clearly, and it's those elements I most admire in poetry.

Here is a line spoken by a lover:

We were two secrets
held by the heart of darkness
until the tongue of dawn
threatened to denounce us

It is perfectly comprehensible to a modern mind, and we are empathetic to the speaker, feeling the sharp emotions of a stolen night of love and the approach of its inevitable end. And yet it seems fresh, the product of a unique mind expressing himself in his own way, preserving those thoughts in writing. This is the collection in a nutshell.

Also, the richness of the culture behind the poetry attracts me, and I want to know more. The joining or mixing of separate cultures is seen in so many verses where, for example, blonde-haired women are mentioned, or the bells of Christians are heard, and then the same Muslim speaker might then reference fountains or camels or gems or flowers or other details that sound distinctly Middle Eastern or Asian to a Westerner. Another connection is between the people and the land. It shouldn't be surprising--but it kinda is--to hear a Muslim Arabic speaker describing the land of Spain and how much he loves it:

Valley of Almería!
God grant that I never see
myself deprived of you!
...And you, friend, here beside me,
enjoy this time, for there are delights
in this paradise not to be found
in the eternal one.

Of course, his ancestors had been in that land many generations at that point, so there really is nothing strange in that except for the realities of the present that we mistake for eternal truth. But it is these striking combinations that make the poetry so special to me--finding familiar human emotions and familiar human thought clothed in unfamiliar images and terms. There is something both unifying and refreshing in that combination.

Additionally, and quite separate from the translation and my interests in the time and place, I feel these poems stand on their own simply as art. These works are universal in the best way and can be appreciated simply as human expression. This short poem is a nice example:

The wind does the delicate work
of a goldsmith
crimping water into mesh
for a coat of mail.

Then comes the rain
and rivets the pieces together
with little nails.

Although we find a lot of military imagery in these poems, those verses could come from any place and any time. The fact that it came from Abu l-Qasim al-Manishi in 12th century Seville is an interesting detail that does not need to affect the value of the art in any way. IMO, he could have been writing in any age and it would have the same impact and the same meaning.

Recommended. My only complaint is that it is a small volume, less than 100 pages. I would have liked twice as much.

View all my reviews