Friday, June 18, 2010

Khaled Mattawa is full of win

I saw Khaled Mattawa read tonight at a very unique venue in Ferndale that was part performance space, part Ikea showroom, part someone's house. I've never been to a place like it. But it's cool to know that it exists.

Khaled was great. One of the best readings I've been to in a long time. The kind of reading that made me feel very proud to know him and also proud to be a poet. I rarely feel like this after seeing poets read. Quite the opposite, in fact.

During his introduction it was mentioned that Khaled had been published in Poetry. I've been reading poetry consistently since 2004 but didn't remember seeing him so I looked Khaled up on the Poetry Foundation's website. In the April 2006 issue there's a translation he did of "Occupation 1943" by Saadi Youssef. It is quite good. You can read the poem and Khaled's translation note on the Poetry website.

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