Privacy Policy Cookie Policy
  • TABLE OF CONTENT
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 10
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 9
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 8
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 7
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 6
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 5
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 4
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 3
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 2
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 1
  • THE DREAMING MACHINE
    • The dreaming machine n 10
    • The dreaming machine n 9
    • The dreaming machine n 8
    • The dreaming machine n 7
    • The dreaming machine n 6
    • The dreaming machine n 5
    • The dreaming machine n 4
    • The dreaming machine n 3
    • The dreaming machine n 2
    • The dreaming machine n 1
  • CONTACT
No Result
View All Result

The Dreaming Machine

  • Home
  • Poetry
    Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko

    Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko

    This Is Not A Feminist Poem – Wana Udobang (a.k.a. Wana Wana)

    from AFROWOMEN POETRY – Three Poets from Tanzania: Langa Sarakikya, Gladness Mayenga, Miriam Lucas

    The Bitter Bulbs of Trees Growing by the Roadsides of History – Three Poems by Iya Kiva

    The Bitter Bulbs of Trees Growing by the Roadsides of History – Three Poems by Iya Kiva

    What Was Heart Is Now A Scorched Branch – Three Poems by Elina Sventsytska

    Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko

    Water: The Longest Tunnel Where the Color Blue Is Born — Four Poems by SHANKAR LAHIRI

    Message to Forough Farrokhzad and other poems – Samira Albouzedi

  • Fiction
    Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko

    BOW / BHUK – Parimal Bhattacharya

    Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko

    A Very Different Story (Part II)- Nandini Sahu

    Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko

    The Aunt: An Exhilarating Story by Francesca Gargallo

    THE PROGENITOR – Zakir Talukder (trans. from Bengali by Masrufa Ayesha Nusrat)

    Stalks of Lotus – Indrani Datta

    Love in Africa and the Variety of its Declinations:  Short-story Tasting from Disco Matanga by Alex Nderitu

    Love in Africa and the Variety of its Declinations: Short-story Tasting from Disco Matanga by Alex Nderitu

    FLORAL PRINT FLAT SHOES – Lucia Cupertino

    FLORAL PRINT FLAT SHOES – Lucia Cupertino

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    The Red Bananas – N. Annadurai

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    THE CULPRIT – Gourahari Das

  • Non Fiction
    Menstruation in Fiction: The Authorial Gaze – Farah Ahamed

    Menstruation in Fiction: The Authorial Gaze – Farah Ahamed

    Aadya Shakti, or Primal Energy – Lyla Freechild

    Aadya Shakti, or Primal Energy – Lyla Freechild

    Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko

    THE TIME HAS COME – Gaius Tsaamo

    THE AMAZONS OF THE APOCALYPSE from “Ikonoklast – Oksana Šačko’: arte e rivoluzione” –  Massimo Ceresa

    THE AMAZONS OF THE APOCALYPSE from “Ikonoklast – Oksana Šačko’: arte e rivoluzione” – Massimo Ceresa

    Plowing the publishing world  – Tribute to Brazilian writer Itamar Vieira, by Loretta Emiri

    Plowing the publishing world – Tribute to Brazilian writer Itamar Vieira, by Loretta Emiri

    Jaider Esbell – Specialist in Provocations, by Loretta Emiri

    Jaider Esbell – Specialist in Provocations, by Loretta Emiri

  • Interviews & reviews
    The mushroom at the end of the world. Camilla Boemio interviews Silia Ka Tung

    The mushroom at the end of the world. Camilla Boemio interviews Silia Ka Tung

    The Excruciating Beauty of Ukrainian Bravery: Camilla Boemio Interviews Zarina Zabrisky on Her Photography Series

    The Excruciating Beauty of Ukrainian Bravery: Camilla Boemio Interviews Zarina Zabrisky on Her Photography Series

    Everything Moves and Everything Is About Relationships. Susan Aberg Interviews Painter Louise Victor

    Everything Moves and Everything Is About Relationships. Susan Aberg Interviews Painter Louise Victor

    Reportage of War and Emotions, the Tour of Three Ukrainian Poets in Italy

    Reportage of War and Emotions, the Tour of Three Ukrainian Poets in Italy

    Videos from worldwide readings in support of Ukrainian writers, September 7, 2022 – Zoom Readings Italy

    Videos from worldwide readings in support of Ukrainian writers, September 7, 2022 – Zoom Readings Italy

    Reportage of War and Emotions, the Tour of Three Ukrainian Poets in Italy

    From Euromaidan: Three Ukrainian poets to spoil Westsplaining fest in Italy – Zarina Zabrisky

  • Out of bounds
    • All
    • Fiction
    • Intersections
    • Interviews and reviews
    • Non fiction
    • Poetry
    Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko

    THE MATERICIST MANIFESTO by AVANGUARDIE VERDI

    Artwork by Mubeen Kishany – Contamination and Distancing

    Glory to the Heroes! Poems by Volodymyr Tymchuk

    Glory to the Heroes! Poems by Volodymyr Tymchuk

    Materials from Worldwide Readings in Solidarity with Salman Rushdie – Bologna Event

    Materials from Worldwide Readings in Solidarity with Salman Rushdie – Bologna Event

    The Shipwreck Saga – Lynne Knight

    Phoenix: Part I – YIN Xiaoyuan

    Surrender to Our Explosive Democracy – Five Poems by Serena Piccoli from “gulp/gasp” (Moria Poetry 2022)

    Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko

    Me and French, or What I Did During the Pandemic (Moi et le français, ou Ce que j’ai fais pendant la pandémie) – Carolyn Miller

    Becoming-animal as a Mirror – Ten Animals from Gabriele Galloni’s Bestiary

  • News
    HAIR IN THE WIND – Calling on poets to join international project in solidarity with the women of Iran

    HAIR IN THE WIND – Calling on poets to join international project in solidarity with the women of Iran

    THE DREAMING MACHINE ISSUE N. 11 WILL BE OUT ON DEC. 10

    THE DREAMING MACHINE ISSUE N. 11 WILL BE OUT ON DEC. 10

    RUCKSACK – GLOBAL POETRY PATCHWORK PROJECT

    RUCKSACK – GLOBAL POETRY PATCHWORK PROJECT

    REFUGEE TALES July 3-5:  Register for a Walk In Solidarity with Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Detainees

    REFUGEE TALES July 3-5: Register for a Walk In Solidarity with Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Detainees

    IL BIANCO E IL NERO – LE PAROLE PER DIRLO, Conference Milan Sept. 7

    IL BIANCO E IL NERO – LE PAROLE PER DIRLO, Conference Milan Sept. 7

    OPEN POEM TO THE CURATORS OF THE 58th VENICE BIENNALE  FROM THE GHOSTS OF THAT RELIC YOU SHOULD NOT DARE CALL “OUR BOAT” (Pina Piccolo)

    OPEN POEM TO THE CURATORS OF THE 58th VENICE BIENNALE FROM THE GHOSTS OF THAT RELIC YOU SHOULD NOT DARE CALL “OUR BOAT” (Pina Piccolo)

  • Home
  • Poetry
    Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko

    Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko

    This Is Not A Feminist Poem – Wana Udobang (a.k.a. Wana Wana)

    from AFROWOMEN POETRY – Three Poets from Tanzania: Langa Sarakikya, Gladness Mayenga, Miriam Lucas

    The Bitter Bulbs of Trees Growing by the Roadsides of History – Three Poems by Iya Kiva

    The Bitter Bulbs of Trees Growing by the Roadsides of History – Three Poems by Iya Kiva

    What Was Heart Is Now A Scorched Branch – Three Poems by Elina Sventsytska

    Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko

    Water: The Longest Tunnel Where the Color Blue Is Born — Four Poems by SHANKAR LAHIRI

    Message to Forough Farrokhzad and other poems – Samira Albouzedi

  • Fiction
    Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko

    BOW / BHUK – Parimal Bhattacharya

    Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko

    A Very Different Story (Part II)- Nandini Sahu

    Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko

    The Aunt: An Exhilarating Story by Francesca Gargallo

    THE PROGENITOR – Zakir Talukder (trans. from Bengali by Masrufa Ayesha Nusrat)

    Stalks of Lotus – Indrani Datta

    Love in Africa and the Variety of its Declinations:  Short-story Tasting from Disco Matanga by Alex Nderitu

    Love in Africa and the Variety of its Declinations: Short-story Tasting from Disco Matanga by Alex Nderitu

    FLORAL PRINT FLAT SHOES – Lucia Cupertino

    FLORAL PRINT FLAT SHOES – Lucia Cupertino

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    The Red Bananas – N. Annadurai

    Hunting for images in Guatemala City: Alvaro Sánchez interviewed by Pina Piccolo

    THE CULPRIT – Gourahari Das

  • Non Fiction
    Menstruation in Fiction: The Authorial Gaze – Farah Ahamed

    Menstruation in Fiction: The Authorial Gaze – Farah Ahamed

    Aadya Shakti, or Primal Energy – Lyla Freechild

    Aadya Shakti, or Primal Energy – Lyla Freechild

    Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko

    THE TIME HAS COME – Gaius Tsaamo

    THE AMAZONS OF THE APOCALYPSE from “Ikonoklast – Oksana Šačko’: arte e rivoluzione” –  Massimo Ceresa

    THE AMAZONS OF THE APOCALYPSE from “Ikonoklast – Oksana Šačko’: arte e rivoluzione” – Massimo Ceresa

    Plowing the publishing world  – Tribute to Brazilian writer Itamar Vieira, by Loretta Emiri

    Plowing the publishing world – Tribute to Brazilian writer Itamar Vieira, by Loretta Emiri

    Jaider Esbell – Specialist in Provocations, by Loretta Emiri

    Jaider Esbell – Specialist in Provocations, by Loretta Emiri

  • Interviews & reviews
    The mushroom at the end of the world. Camilla Boemio interviews Silia Ka Tung

    The mushroom at the end of the world. Camilla Boemio interviews Silia Ka Tung

    The Excruciating Beauty of Ukrainian Bravery: Camilla Boemio Interviews Zarina Zabrisky on Her Photography Series

    The Excruciating Beauty of Ukrainian Bravery: Camilla Boemio Interviews Zarina Zabrisky on Her Photography Series

    Everything Moves and Everything Is About Relationships. Susan Aberg Interviews Painter Louise Victor

    Everything Moves and Everything Is About Relationships. Susan Aberg Interviews Painter Louise Victor

    Reportage of War and Emotions, the Tour of Three Ukrainian Poets in Italy

    Reportage of War and Emotions, the Tour of Three Ukrainian Poets in Italy

    Videos from worldwide readings in support of Ukrainian writers, September 7, 2022 – Zoom Readings Italy

    Videos from worldwide readings in support of Ukrainian writers, September 7, 2022 – Zoom Readings Italy

    Reportage of War and Emotions, the Tour of Three Ukrainian Poets in Italy

    From Euromaidan: Three Ukrainian poets to spoil Westsplaining fest in Italy – Zarina Zabrisky

  • Out of bounds
    • All
    • Fiction
    • Intersections
    • Interviews and reviews
    • Non fiction
    • Poetry
    Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko

    THE MATERICIST MANIFESTO by AVANGUARDIE VERDI

    Artwork by Mubeen Kishany – Contamination and Distancing

    Glory to the Heroes! Poems by Volodymyr Tymchuk

    Glory to the Heroes! Poems by Volodymyr Tymchuk

    Materials from Worldwide Readings in Solidarity with Salman Rushdie – Bologna Event

    Materials from Worldwide Readings in Solidarity with Salman Rushdie – Bologna Event

    The Shipwreck Saga – Lynne Knight

    Phoenix: Part I – YIN Xiaoyuan

    Surrender to Our Explosive Democracy – Five Poems by Serena Piccoli from “gulp/gasp” (Moria Poetry 2022)

    Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko

    Me and French, or What I Did During the Pandemic (Moi et le français, ou Ce que j’ai fais pendant la pandémie) – Carolyn Miller

    Becoming-animal as a Mirror – Ten Animals from Gabriele Galloni’s Bestiary

  • News
    HAIR IN THE WIND – Calling on poets to join international project in solidarity with the women of Iran

    HAIR IN THE WIND – Calling on poets to join international project in solidarity with the women of Iran

    THE DREAMING MACHINE ISSUE N. 11 WILL BE OUT ON DEC. 10

    THE DREAMING MACHINE ISSUE N. 11 WILL BE OUT ON DEC. 10

    RUCKSACK – GLOBAL POETRY PATCHWORK PROJECT

    RUCKSACK – GLOBAL POETRY PATCHWORK PROJECT

    REFUGEE TALES July 3-5:  Register for a Walk In Solidarity with Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Detainees

    REFUGEE TALES July 3-5: Register for a Walk In Solidarity with Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Detainees

    IL BIANCO E IL NERO – LE PAROLE PER DIRLO, Conference Milan Sept. 7

    IL BIANCO E IL NERO – LE PAROLE PER DIRLO, Conference Milan Sept. 7

    OPEN POEM TO THE CURATORS OF THE 58th VENICE BIENNALE  FROM THE GHOSTS OF THAT RELIC YOU SHOULD NOT DARE CALL “OUR BOAT” (Pina Piccolo)

    OPEN POEM TO THE CURATORS OF THE 58th VENICE BIENNALE FROM THE GHOSTS OF THAT RELIC YOU SHOULD NOT DARE CALL “OUR BOAT” (Pina Piccolo)

No Result
View All Result
The Dreaming Machine
No Result
View All Result
Home Out of bounds

Excerpts from “Don’t Say My Son Is Walking in Heaven” – Islam Nawwar, trans. Phoebe Bay Carter

Cover artwork by Sumana Mitra

November 25, 2021
in Out of bounds, Poetry, The dreaming machine n 9
Photographer Sumana Mitra on her street photography and recent explorations of Surrealist techniques
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

 

1

I was in my bedroom when I heard the muezzin call:

“Praaaaaayer is better than sleep / praaaaayer is better than sleep”

So I hastened to the router to begin my daily worship.

 

 

Had I been there

At Lorca’s execution

I would have been neither Lorca

Nor the one wielding the gun

I would have clapped, nothing more

And left,

Awaiting a slap

From determinism.

 

 

 

I am alive and Cinema Paradiso, demolished among tears at the end of the film, tells me I am alive, and all those kisses between the actors at the end of the film tell me I am alive, and this soundtrack resembling the time I put a black-and-white television in my bedroom window for the school children standing on the opposite balcony so they could watch, applauding, a kiss in an old Arabic film – this soundtrack tells me I am alive. This naked breast tells me their dog of a private-school teacher with his stick on the opposite balcony is dead, and I am alive. My imaginary lover’s cracked lips tell me that my dog of a father is dead, and I am alive. The hair sprouting around my penis tells me my dog of a mother is dead, and I am alive. All those kisses at the end of the film tell me that my dog of a prophet is dead, and I am alive. O hug between my lover’s arms, tell me that my dog of a president is dead and I am alive. Tell me, hug, that this rocketship flying me to Mars without a series of hysterical kisses from my lover is dead, and I am alive.

 

[…]

 

 

3

I walk

From page to page, empty

And the page is empty

I curse it and walk away

In empty time and empty place

The two shake hands before me

While my neck filled with scar lines

Can no longer bear to have other hands

Entwining around it

Have I nothing but my determination to curse the emptiness and walk away

I tremble in the emptiness

A one-sided coin

And the tourist snapping a selfie

Beside the carved stone

Looks at the big skeleton of my fish

Tossed down beside my rickety boat

At anchor

Its flesh eaten by sharks.

And this rural road full of gravel

The tourist screamed, “Oh my God, a shark skeleton!”

 

The wine barrel Faust carried from the cave

Reminds me of all the wine barrels stacked in rows

Jostling against in each other

Carried to the mosque.

Faust passed by, a tired old man

In his boat, sailing across the mosque floor,

And everyone – not excluding our insulted God – passed by, tired old men

Everyone in a rickety boat at anchor

In the skeleton of a fish whose flesh was eaten by sharks

And I write a poem on a slab of marble about voyages

That never should have happened,

So please shut up.

Where shall I put these convolutions inside my skull that I write with:

Between la ilaha ila Allah and long live Egypt

Or between the drops of semen ejaculated on my bedroom rug?

These convolutions which on which

A massive crowd of words I did not live slide uncaringly

And the family is filth that sticks to the back.

Blessed are the new barbarians who do not need to strike a match to set fire to memory,

In a giant leap towards voluntary extinction

I really love pizza

Especially chicken shawarma pizza

And sausage fatayer too.

I often imagine myself as a dirty mouse

I’ll be scampering between the round windows in a swiss cheese triangle

When I’ll be summoned by the demon

Lord of mice, lice, and bedbugs

To gnaw him a round talisman on a closed door

My ultimate dream is for it to be a pizza talisman

Indeed, this is my dream both as mouse and as man

I don’t actually know which species of vertebrates I belong to

And I’m still surprised by the highly specific classification of my identity

On my ID card, where they wrote:

Male, Muslim, single.

I also don’t know which species the shark belongs to.

Poor shark teeth

Like a mouse running away from poison

Killed here by Martin Luther’s emaciation

And there by Gandhi’s potbelly.

God is not a mouse

Because a mouse exists

Maybe he is a dirty mouse caught in the trap of your greatest fear

And maybe you would betray the love of your life if they threatened to release him to gnaw at your face with gusto.

The existent mouse gnawing at your face is certainly greater than any non-existent metaphysical God.

Besame

Besame mucho.***

 

 

 

 

*French song

**The priest

***Spanish song

 

 

 

Islam Nawwar is a poet, writer and physician from Cairo , born on 1992 self published 3 poetry collections.

 

 

 

Tags: creative processEgypthistoryironyIslam NawwarmemoryparadoxphilosophyPoetryscienceSurrealist poetrywriting

Related Posts

Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko
Poetry

Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko

December 11, 2022
Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko
Fiction

BOW / BHUK – Parimal Bhattacharya

December 10, 2022
Intersections

Artwork by Mubeen Kishany – Contamination and Distancing

December 10, 2022
Reportage of War and Emotions, the Tour of Three Ukrainian Poets in Italy
Interviews and reviews

Reportage of War and Emotions, the Tour of Three Ukrainian Poets in Italy

December 10, 2022
Poetry

What Was Heart Is Now A Scorched Branch – Three Poems by Elina Sventsytska

December 10, 2022
Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko
Fiction

A Very Different Story (Part II)- Nandini Sahu

December 10, 2022
Next Post
Night Journeys: Camilla Boemio Interviews artist Peter Ydeen

This is how air digests wind - Five poems on grieving by Pushpanjana Karmakar Biswas

The Dreaming Machine

Writing and visual arts from the world.

Out of bounds

… and now for something completely different – Poems and musings by Zack Rogow

    Idol Conjectures   What if we ate round tofu on the night of the full moon What if ...

April 29, 2018
Non Fiction

The poem, like the poet, plays with itself. On Robert Krotesch’s “Seed Catalogue” – Carmelo Militano

I doubt these days there are many poets, writers, teachers, ranch-hands, or gardeners, and anyone in between who think Robert Krotesch ...

December 2, 2018
Non Fiction

KAHLIL GIBRAN AND BLAKE’S RECONCILIATION OF OPPOSITES- PART II, Sana Darghmouni

Like Blake's four zoas, the three gods of Gibran's mythology represent prevailing tendencies in the human soul, in a state ...

April 29, 2018
Non Fiction

From Horace to Ferlinghetti and Back – Giuseppe Ferrara

  Lawrence Ferlinghetti disappeared from our sight in 2021 at the age of 101. The American poet and editor born of an Italian ...

November 29, 2021
Interviews and reviews

From Euromaidan: Three Ukrainian poets to spoil Westsplaining fest in Italy – Zarina Zabrisky

Three Ukrainian poets to spoil Westsplaining fest in Italy   Article by: Zarina Zabrisky In Italy, cultural organizations “oppose all wars” ...

December 9, 2022

Latest

Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko

Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko

December 11, 2022
The mushroom at the end of the world. Camilla Boemio interviews Silia Ka Tung

The mushroom at the end of the world. Camilla Boemio interviews Silia Ka Tung

December 10, 2022
This Is Not A Feminist Poem – Wana Udobang (a.k.a. Wana Wana)

from AFROWOMEN POETRY – Three Poets from Tanzania: Langa Sarakikya, Gladness Mayenga, Miriam Lucas

December 10, 2022
Take Note of the Sun Shining Within Twilight – Four Poems by Natalia Beltchenko

THE MATERICIST MANIFESTO by AVANGUARDIE VERDI

December 10, 2022

Follow Us

news

HAIR IN THE WIND – Calling on poets to join international project in solidarity with the women of Iran
News

HAIR IN THE WIND – Calling on poets to join international project in solidarity with the women of Iran

by Dreaming Machine
2 months ago
0

HAIR IN THE WIND we  invite all poets from all countries to be part of the artistic-poetic performance HAIR IN...

Read more
  • TABLE OF CONTENT
  • THE DREAMING MACHINE
  • CONTACT

© 2019 thedreamingmachine.com

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Poetry
  • Fiction
  • Non Fiction
  • Interviews and reviews
  • Out of bounds
    • Poetry
    • Fiction
    • Intersections
  • THE DREAMING MACHINE
    • The dreaming machine n 8
    • The dreaming machine n 7
    • The dreaming machine n 6
    • The dreaming machine n 5
    • The dreaming machine n 4
    • The dreaming machine n 3
    • The dreaming machine n 2
    • The dreaming machine n 1
  • TABLE OF CONTENTS
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 7
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 6
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 5
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 4
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 3
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 2
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 1
  • News
  • Contacts

© 2019 thedreamingmachine.com

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In