April was National Poetry Month and Reese Library celebrated by hosting a Student Translated Poetry Reading. Participating students could either read poems they had translated from their original language into English or read translated works from the library’s collection.
Lorenzo Pastro read two poems by Brazilian poet, Vinícius de Moraes (translated by Ashley Brown): A Pera/The Pear and Soneto de Fidelidade/Sonnet of Fidelity
Jimmy Khaouli, a freshman Cyber Operations major read Aatini al nay wa ghanny/Give Me the Flute and Sing (اعطني الناي و غنّ) by Lebanese poet Gibran Khalil Gibran, sung by Fairuz, and Naaili Ahla Zahra/Pick for Me the Most Beautiful Flower (نقيلي أحلى زهرة) by Zaki Nassif.
Raquel Bonner, a senior Psychology major read “My Grandfather was a Terrorist” from Mosab Abu Toha’s award-winning book Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza and two poems by Palestinian poet and author Refaat Alareer: “If I Must Die” and “When I Stoop”.
Fantasia Johnson and Ariana Davis read “You, Melancholy Rose” and “A Rose in a Vase” from Thirty Spanish Poems of Love and Exile.
Ayman Fadel, local community member and poetry lover read “Whispers” by Kamal Elgizouli, translated by Adil Babakir and published in Modern Sudanese Poetry: an Anthology, University of Nebraska Press, 2019. Ayman also played a recording of his maternal aunt reading the Arabic version of “It’s Hot Up in Here!” by Ibrahim Fouad and followed by his English translation.
Two librarians from Reese Library spontaneously joined in on the fun and read a few translated poems from the library’s collection.
Aspasia Luster, Student Success Librarian, read two poems from The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry form Muslim and Christian Spain, 950-1492, translated and edited by Peter Cole: “Winter Has Waned” (originally written by 13th century Moroccan writer Nahum haMa’aravi) and “The World is a Raging Sea” (originally written by Yedaya Hapenini).
Melissa Johnson, Director of Reese Library, read a portion from Gilgamesh and “Poplar” and “Nameless Flowers” two poems from Nameless Flowers: Selected Poems of Gu Cheng, translated from Chinese by Aaron Crippen, a former professor of World Literature at Augusta State University.
