I found "To an Ethiopian Child" to be the poem out of these pages that affected me the most. The way Melhiem makes this child real and "sets you on my table," letting the child play with the food and the mashed potatoes creates a vivid image that can't easily be dimsissed. It is relative to today because we do see these ads on TV where the starving child is depicted and then the voice-over comes on to tell you ways in which you can adopt this child or send them money and we frequently ignore these messages. The starvation in third world countries is, and this is horrible to say, but almost such a common fact that it is overlooked. It is not a new phenomenon, a new bombing or sudden disaster, but a day to day heart wrenching situation that doesn't capture that much attention because it is such a day to day issue. This poem makes it impossible to dismiss this child but rather creates the image of the Ethiopian child through its birth and struggles and to then place the child on your TV and in your own living room. I think this poem should be seen in more places than our book because it makes the starvation situation more real and would, hopefully, create an increase in interest in helping out those less fortunate. Obviously, one poem is not going to make that much of a difference, Im not completely ignorant, but everything helps.

In reading over "The Beirut-Hell Express" I found one particular excerpt real interesting. "and governments with no end....
BABYLON BABYLON I announce your resurrections and your death.
We shall go from the Resistance to the psychic conquest
and then to prophecy"
Initially, when I read this, I got stuck on trying to discern Adnan's intended meaning by this. After looking up some of the allusions in the poem, especially those to Gamal Abdel Nasser and George Jackson. As it turns out, Nasser is credited with the advent of "Arab Socialism" and Jackson is equally left-leaning, being a member of the Black Panther Party and arguably a political prisoner. Associating Adnan with these people, in addition to her obvious disdain for colonialism that was no doubt driven by the heavy political climate in 1970, with the Cold War still in full effect and the two superpowers in a constant tug-of-war to expand their spheres of influence. Knowing this I felt like I had a bit more insight into what she meant in those particular verses. I get the impression, and I've heard others espouse this view, that she views the global power structures of the time, which save the fall of the Soviet Union haven't changed much, as a modern-day incarnation of Babylon. She touches on government corruption and misconduct, but makes a more substantial claim in saying that the present social system is one that is built on deception, exploitation, and greed and is destined to be its own downfall. She really does make a valid point about the inherent illegitimacy of modern governments(for the most part) and their inability to regulate society in a just and progressive manner. Her solution to this problem, as I understood it, is not a militant or a diplomatic one, but rather a broad awakening of our collective social conscience that would allow the masses to free themselves from the ideas that have been imposed on them. This, I believe, is the psychic conquest that she writes about after which the next phase is prophecy, by some means recognizing the means of organizing society that would fall in line with the intentions of our creator. More simply, that people can liberate themselves by ignoring the efforts of man to control one another, and simply rely on spiritual truth, whatever that may be, to dictate our lives. I know that was awfully wordy, hope it made sense. Late.

James

I dont want to get too in depth on this forum as my paper is about this very work, but I found it very well written and very interesting. Joseph really goes out of his way to pull the reader into his world and make him understand what growing up was like for him. He's very much like Dickens in that the images he paints are so lifelike, so real that you can imagine yourself sitting there with him. It's for these reasons I decided to do my paper on this work, and on Joseph. The title is particularly provactive as it raises interest as to why he would use something so decisive and jarring. I just very much enjoyed reading this work, and have become enthralled with the writing of my paper on such a subject.
-matt

I thought this poem was beautiful and not at all difficult to understand although interpretations are 'up for grabs'. It describes transitions in Art forms, and life, that things that are considered treasures are but for a moment; that nothing in itself can stand the test of time. When i think about this piece i think about Khalil Gibran's "The two Poems" where he indirectly states that sometimes little means much, that just because you write a long poem- which is admired for a while- or create the most beautiful temple dedicated to Apollo, it still will fall it will not last for ever and it will not always be admired. And once that happens, only the "holes in the skull tell [ ] that kissable lips" once existed. So "dazzle that a dream from now, will be an obscure legend", and hold on to what is yours for this moment.

“Grandfather…” makes me remember my own Papa with its opening lines, “Remember your grandfather tall and straight…” (91). The repetition of "remember" brings back more memories and emphasizes the importance of remembering those who have passed, and their “stories of exile and travel.” The author must want to remember the good, and happy times with his grandfather, ending with “Remember your grandfather/ in his vigor.” This ending is almost the sequel to Dylan Thomas’ “Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night.” “Old age should burn and rave at close of day…” is what the author tells his dying father, but “Grandfather…” is what the author tells himself and others after the death.

The first thing worth noting in Beirut Hell Express is that at the beginning, Adnan says that being an Arab is being like an American and being an American is almost like being an Arab even without knowing it. Adnan continues by saying that Americans are a nomadic people and Arabs are nomadic and restless people and both are restless and wreckless. Thus, they both felt it necessary to revolt against oppression. Arab mathematicians and astronomers that opened up the age to be able to go the moon just like the Americans opened up the age for revolution. Adnan says that poetry has no place in America because America is alienated from itself. Just like what makes poetry is buried in a cloud of advertising, govt induced, market induced insecurity about poetry, there is also suppression in the Arab world. Adnan mentions that there were3 earthquakes in Beirut and the fourth one is coming so the next earthquake is equated with the war that is coming. It is stated that we should go from resistance to the psychic conquest to the prophecy to the divine which are the people who suffer. It is a conceptualization of how revolution takes place and the divine is what should be admired because they had to pay with their lives. Adnan says that we are naked and destiny is in front so we are confronting our evil thoughts which is all that lies between us and our destiny. They also don’t know how to love each other because they only know how to love their mother. Also it is said that the dead are coming back in order to fight again because the living are cowards. Finally, the bikini and slip are equated with colonialism and those who wear them should take the Beirut Hell Express. Wow!

This poem seems to be more South American than Arab in its origin. His mention of uniquely Latin American elements (Sangria, classical guitars, bullfights, the term “ole”) seems to be indicative that the author was writing from the point of view of a Latin American or a visitor to that area. The third and final stanza seems to be the “destination” of the poem, where the author wants us to pay attention. The “Man who loved Flamenco” seems to be the gimpy-legged person he mentions in this stanza. He is so enraptured by this lively (life-giving?) music that he becomes unaware/unconcerned about his crippled condition, and parties harder than his able-bodied companions. Also, this “Man who loved Flamenco” is dead, as he is now “in a quiet grave somewhere”. This poem seems to serve as a rememberance of the dead man, who once danced with such reverie.

"Sand Nigger" was especially poignant for me. Lawrence Joseph excelled at making the poem visual for readers. The poem utilizes movement to portray the young boy’s life as an Arab-American growing up in Detroit. It was easy for me to relate to the poem; understanding the references made it more enjoyable. As readers, we get a feel for the boy’s daily life as he describes his grandmother’s laughter at the Arabic newspaper, his grandfather’s backgammon game, a Maronite tradition, and the medley of foods that give him a glimpse of his heritage. Though he expresses awareness of his lack of complete understanding, ("I know there is something I will never know,") it is through these experiences which he absorbs what he knows about his family and his background. Later, Joseph delves into more serious subjects; it is almost as if he ages with the progression of the poem. He mentions the civil war and its effects, his duty and desire to "use his mind, to bargain, to succeed," and the daily battle he faces as a "Levantine nigger." Joseph ends with a reference to an Arabic proverb: "…against his brother, with his brother against his cousin, with cousin and brother against the stranger," another indication of the infusion of Arabic influence into his life in America, a prevalent theme among Arab-American poets.

In "TO AN ETHIOPIAN CHILD" D.H. Melhem paints a scene, natural, pure, and inviting, in her first stanza, which in fluid degrees comes to end in a steaming puddle of sickness. The poem struck me as being most closely related to the portrayal of a scream and simultaneous suffocation. Beginning as a metaphor for life and heritage as song and ritual, the second stanza then shows the stark contrast of the pain and suffering that have come to overwhelm a people and their traditions. I thought the idea of nature as a ceremonial and nourishing act intriguing as well, the way Melhem treats the monsoon as "anoint[ing] the tableland." Moreoever her diction seemed precise, (I might be overanalyzing here)in that she uses the word "tableland" in place of a 'flat region, etc.' I think this further exemplifies the starvation theme of the poem. But when the mother sets the child on the table, as if setting some dish out, it seems that he is pressing upon Melhem's conscience as he presses "the gravy spoon/ into mashed potatoes, leaving a brown pool." These images struck me as particularly wretched. Also, they seemed to tie relate/hint to the end of the second stanza where the mother is clawing the earth to find her child nothing more than a "porridge of mud." But the end of the poem seems to speak of this all transiently, the "flickering" of these scenes ending in death, possibly passing from life, from humanity's conscience...

I can definitely see a lot of reason for working on a hyperlink version of Beirut- Hell Express. There's so many of these allusions every where in the poem...but it seems relatively easy to get the tone of this poem, and especially the voice of Etil Adnan. There's so much anger and disgust in here. What really strikes me is the way she mixes metal, chemicals, and flesh to create this total landscape of nauseating death. Almost every object and emotion described has been turned into some putrid monster of itself. The sexual images are even more cutting. "I know streets where the police rape anything going on two feet." Adnan does speak for liberation and revolution…but it really seems like she’s hoping God to come down and just destroy the city like it's a living brother to Sodom or Gomorrah.

I particularly fell in love with both "Sand Nigger" and the excerpt from "Rest in Love". I really liked these pieces because they reminded me of my own life. "Sand Nigger" especially because it is pretty much my life on paper. My family is Lebanese and from Michigan (in and around Detroit). My grandparents attend a church called "Our Lady of Lebanon" which is as much a part of my family as anything else. Next, and of course my favorite part, was talking about the grandma cooking kousa, grape leaves, hushwee, kebbeh...and of course there was always grandpa who, if he wasn't cooking (or over-salting something) was busy playing Uker with the Joubrans, Abdullah, aunt Nira and Uncle Emal...amongst others. Also, it talked about how the father had a grocery store with his brother that failed, this also happened to my dad and his brother. Grocery stores ran in the family and they just happened to have one in a bad part of town. The Rest in Love brings memories of death in my family recently. I just found it cool how I can relate so much to these poems--it was almost as if in every line I knew exactly what they were talking about, and had experienced those things too. It sort of backs the stereotype, while in an uncriticizing way, of Arabs having stores and not being really very successful, and eating traditional foods rather than assimilating with "American Culture" and eating "American foods". I don't know, these poems just really hit a sweet spot in me. The kind of poems I will always remember, whether or not that was the writer's intentions.
-missy