a visual note- from Dubai

Photo by: Yomna Kamel

communication

“Of all affairs, communication is the most wonderful.. When communication occurs, all natural events are subject to reconsideration, whether it be public discourse or that preliminary discourse termed thinking. Events turn into objects, things with a meaning. They may be referred to when they do not exist, and thus be operative among things distant in space and time, through vicarious presence in a new medium.”
(John Dewey- Experience and Nature, 1958)

Empty bottles

How it feels to live in a city that corrupts residents and visitors. It is the culture of empty bottles !!

Schizophrenic!

In the dark city, everyone has the right to be schizophrenic, pretend he is someone else and escape from an ugly reality!!
yomna

hearts .. and ..minds..

soc.hfac.uh.edu

المـدن المقهـــورة

مدينتى ...

ككلِ المدنِ المقهورة ....
يعلوها غبارٌ ....
من نوعٍ خاص .....
يبتلع الأنفاس ....
يسرق حرياتِ الناسِ
وأنا ....
ككل المقهورين ....
أحلم بقوس قزح ....
يمتدُ من الأرض إلى السماء ..
أحلم بجداول ماء ..
وبأرض شوارعها ملساء ..
معطرةً برائحة الأمطار ..
وككل المقهورين ..
أحلم بمساء ..
يأتى بنسائم حرية ..
تقتلع القهر من الدنيا ..
وتعيد إلينا الإحساس.. القاهرة2002

Counterpoint - Homage to Edward Said

By Mahmoud Darwish

Take your birthplace along wherever you go and be a narcissist if need be.
- Exile, the outside world. Exile, the hidden world. Who then are you between them?
- I do not introduce myself lest I lose myself. I am what I am.
I am my other in harmonious duality between word and geste.
Were I a poet, I should have written:
I am two in one, like the swallow’s wings.
And if spring is late coming, I am content to be its harbinger!
He loves countries and leaves them. (Is the impossible remote?) He loves to migrate towards everything. Traveling freely between cultures, there is room for all who seek the essence of man.

(Published in Le Monde diplomatique- Jan. 2007)

بغداد

استئذنك..
سيدى الخليفة...
أن أبكى على قبرك..
دقيقة ...
سقط الوطن من قلوبهم..
وسقطت معه الحقيقة!!
فلتأذن لى سيدى الخليفة..
أن أبكى على قبرك..
دقيقة..

يمنى كامل

Dark Cities

Dark Cities I

When the city corrupts you,
You lose your pretty features
You become pale and yellow
Like a disfigured watermelon
When the city defeats you,
You become part of the system
When it crashes, you crash
Oh dear, walk off your perplexing plight
Tell them who you are
Divulge your identity
Don’t let them take you to the quarantine
Like a sick dog
Escape to your dreams
Evoke your beautiful memories
They will protect you
When the city corrupts you
When the city defeats you

YMK
Cairo - Summer 2005



Dark Cities II

Don’t think you are unique
You are one of us
Orphans of the city
Helpless .. Voiceless
Destined to sadness
When you spill your words
On the deserted roads
They won’t grow
When you color your walls
With thoughts and dreams
They are washed away
Like remnants of old books,
Whose publisher had died
And his orphans
Buried their words
And lost their ways..
In the dark city

YMK
Dubai - Fall 2005










www.gather.com


كلنا أشرار..
لم يبق فى بلدتنا..
سوى تل واحد..
تسكنه عصبة أشرار..
لم يبق فى بلدتنا..
سوى شجرة زيتون..
يسكنها أطفال خضر..
فلقد قتلوا كل رجال القرية..
وشيوخ القرية..
ونساء القرية..
لم يبق سوى بعض الأطفال..
أخذتهم ظلال الزيتونة..
فناموا..
وأمسوا شهداء..
يا أطفال صبرا وشاتيلا..
مأساتكم تتكرر..
اليوم فى جنين..
وغداً..
فى كل بقاع فلسطين..
والعالم يتفرج..
البعض يخاف على نفطه..
والبعض ينتظر معونة
والكل سواء..
أحبائى..
للزيتونة قلب يرق عليكم..
أما نحن .. فبلا قلب..
تركنا الموت يأكلكم..
والخجل يأكلنا..
القاهرة
2002