• TABLE OF CONTENT
    • the dreaming machine – issue number 16
    • the dreaming machine – issue number 15
    • the dreaming machine – issue number 14
    • the dreaming machine – issue number 13
    • the dreaming machine – issue number 12
    • The dreaming machine – issue number 11
    • 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 16
    • The dreaming machine n 15
    • The dreaming machine n 14
    • The dreaming machine n 13
    • The dreaming machine n 12
    • The dreaming machine n 11
    • 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
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The Dreaming Machine
  • Home
  • Poetry
    The God of Submission Loves Gentle Calves and Other Poems –  Yuliya Musakovska

    The God of Submission Loves Gentle Calves and Other Poems – Yuliya Musakovska

    Calixto Robles and Ancestral Spirits in the Mission – A Conversation on Art, Society and Social Action

    Hence, the walruses will keep our memories – Poems from Ikaro Valderrama’s Tengri: The Book of Mysteries

    Eva Bovenzi: The inner world. The artist in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    “When Crimea Was Not a Grief”: Six Poems by Lyudmyla Khersonska, from 21st Century Ukraine

    Of Hunger and Tents: Poems from Gaza by Yousef el-Qedra

    Of Hunger and Tents: Poems from Gaza by Yousef el-Qedra

    Ratko Lalić’s painting, a little Noah’s ark –  Božidar Stanišić  

    The region suddenly turned into a deciduous forest. Poems by Paulami Sengupta

    Eva Bovenzi: The inner world. The artist in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    A False Dimension: regarding the empty walls – Aritra Sanyal

  • Fiction
    The Spanish Steps, Revisited: A Temporary Exhibition – A conversation with Sheila Pepe

    The Importance of Being Imperfect – Haroonuzzaman

    THE STATE – Hamim Faruque

    THE STATE – Hamim Faruque

    Tempus Fugit (in D Minor) – Michele Carenini

    Tempus Fugit (in D Minor) – Michele Carenini

    Eva Bovenzi: The inner world. The artist in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    A Mirage of a Dream – Kazi Rafi

    Prologue to “Maya and the World of the Spirits” – Gaius Tsaamo

    Prologue to “Maya and the World of the Spirits” – Gaius Tsaamo

    RETRIBUTION – Mojaffor Hossain

    RETRIBUTION – Mojaffor Hossain

    A Nation’s Reckoning on a Rickshaw: Photogallery from Bangladesh in turmoil – Melina and Pina Piccolo

    Between Two Lives – Mojaffor Hossain

    A Nation’s Reckoning on a Rickshaw: Photogallery from Bangladesh in turmoil – Melina and Pina Piccolo

    The Amatory Rainy Night – Kazi Rafi

    Chapter 1 of “Come What May”, a detective story set in Gaza, by Ahmed Masoud

    Come What May, chpt. 11 – Ahmed Masoud

  • Non Fiction
    I AM STILL HERE: It’s not a movie, it’s a hymn to democracy – Loretta Emiri

    I AM STILL HERE: It’s not a movie, it’s a hymn to democracy – Loretta Emiri

    Requiem for a Mattanza – Gia Marie Amella

    Requiem for a Mattanza – Gia Marie Amella

    In Defense of T.C. Boyle: Satire in the Era of Psychological Realism – Clark Bouwman

    In Defense of T.C. Boyle: Satire in the Era of Psychological Realism – Clark Bouwman

    Calixto Robles and Ancestral Spirits in the Mission – A Conversation on Art, Society and Social Action

    That is the Face – Appadurai Muttulingam

    Langston Hughes: Shakespeare in Harlem – Barry David Horwitz

    Langston Hughes: Shakespeare in Harlem – Barry David Horwitz

    The Creeping of the Spirit of the Times and Other Poems – Pina Piccolo

    Understanding the Quintessential Divinity: Binding the Two Geographies – Haroonuzzaman

  • Interviews & reviews
    Michelle Reale’s Volta: An Italian-American Reckoning With Race. Necessary turnabouts as  Columbus Day returns amidst Sinners’ vampires – Pina Piccolo

    Michelle Reale’s Volta: An Italian-American Reckoning With Race. Necessary turnabouts as Columbus Day returns amidst Sinners’ vampires – Pina Piccolo

    from The Creative Process: The Future of activism.  Bayo Akomolafe interviewed by Mia Funk and Natalie McCarthy

    from The Creative Process: The Future of activism. Bayo Akomolafe interviewed by Mia Funk and Natalie McCarthy

    The Spanish Steps, Revisited: A Temporary Exhibition – A conversation with Sheila Pepe

    The Spanish Steps, Revisited: A Temporary Exhibition – A conversation with Sheila Pepe

    from The Creative Process: A Life in Writing with T.C. Boyle, interviewed by Mia Funk & Cary Trott

    from The Creative Process: A Life in Writing with T.C. Boyle, interviewed by Mia Funk & Cary Trott

    Living as a painter: Shaun McDowell in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    Living as a painter: Shaun McDowell in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    Calixto Robles and Ancestral Spirits in the Mission – A Conversation on Art, Society and Social Action

    Calixto Robles and Ancestral Spirits in the Mission – A Conversation on Art, Society and Social Action

  • Out of bounds
    • All
    • Fiction
    • Intersections
    • Interviews and reviews
    • Non fiction
    • Poetry
    Eva Bovenzi: The inner world. The artist in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    Area Sacra at Torre di Largo Argentina —or, Calpurnia’s Dream – Laura Hinton

    from The Creative Process: TIOKASIN GHOSTHORSE, interviewed by Mia Funk and Melannie Munoz

    from The Creative Process: TIOKASIN GHOSTHORSE, interviewed by Mia Funk and Melannie Munoz

    The Creeping of the Spirit of the Times and Other Poems – Pina Piccolo

    From The Stony Guests, Part IV: SIRAN BAKIRCI and SAIT B. KARAKAYA – Neil P. Doherty

    Eva Bovenzi: The inner world. The artist in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    Chaos Theory – Michele Carenini

    Of People and Puppets, Kingdoms of Silence, Trauma and Storytelling: Review of “Azad, the rabbit and the wolf – Pina Piccolo

    Of People and Puppets, Kingdoms of Silence, Trauma and Storytelling: Review of “Azad, the rabbit and the wolf – Pina Piccolo

    The Creeping of the Spirit of the Times and Other Poems – Pina Piccolo

    The Creeping of the Spirit of the Times and Other Poems – Pina Piccolo

    Poetry is also born from Gesture – Ikaro Valderrama on Gestos de la Poesia, transnational poetry, multimedia and the energy of the Andes

    Poetry is also born from Gesture – Ikaro Valderrama on Gestos de la Poesia, transnational poetry, multimedia and the energy of the Andes

    A loneliness like an endless steppe – Poems from Maria Luisa Vezzali’s collection Home Ghost

    A loneliness like an endless steppe – Poems from Maria Luisa Vezzali’s collection Home Ghost

    The Creeping of the Spirit of the Times and Other Poems – Pina Piccolo

    Once the veil of artifice falls away: Poems by Haroonuzzaman

  • News
    Memorial Reading Marathon for Julio Monteiro Martins, Dec. 27, zoom live

    Memorial Reading Marathon for Julio Monteiro Martins, Dec. 27, zoom live

    PER/FORMATIVE CITIES

    PER/FORMATIVE CITIES

    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

  • Home
  • Poetry
    The God of Submission Loves Gentle Calves and Other Poems –  Yuliya Musakovska

    The God of Submission Loves Gentle Calves and Other Poems – Yuliya Musakovska

    Calixto Robles and Ancestral Spirits in the Mission – A Conversation on Art, Society and Social Action

    Hence, the walruses will keep our memories – Poems from Ikaro Valderrama’s Tengri: The Book of Mysteries

    Eva Bovenzi: The inner world. The artist in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    “When Crimea Was Not a Grief”: Six Poems by Lyudmyla Khersonska, from 21st Century Ukraine

    Of Hunger and Tents: Poems from Gaza by Yousef el-Qedra

    Of Hunger and Tents: Poems from Gaza by Yousef el-Qedra

    Ratko Lalić’s painting, a little Noah’s ark –  Božidar Stanišić  

    The region suddenly turned into a deciduous forest. Poems by Paulami Sengupta

    Eva Bovenzi: The inner world. The artist in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    A False Dimension: regarding the empty walls – Aritra Sanyal

  • Fiction
    The Spanish Steps, Revisited: A Temporary Exhibition – A conversation with Sheila Pepe

    The Importance of Being Imperfect – Haroonuzzaman

    THE STATE – Hamim Faruque

    THE STATE – Hamim Faruque

    Tempus Fugit (in D Minor) – Michele Carenini

    Tempus Fugit (in D Minor) – Michele Carenini

    Eva Bovenzi: The inner world. The artist in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    A Mirage of a Dream – Kazi Rafi

    Prologue to “Maya and the World of the Spirits” – Gaius Tsaamo

    Prologue to “Maya and the World of the Spirits” – Gaius Tsaamo

    RETRIBUTION – Mojaffor Hossain

    RETRIBUTION – Mojaffor Hossain

    A Nation’s Reckoning on a Rickshaw: Photogallery from Bangladesh in turmoil – Melina and Pina Piccolo

    Between Two Lives – Mojaffor Hossain

    A Nation’s Reckoning on a Rickshaw: Photogallery from Bangladesh in turmoil – Melina and Pina Piccolo

    The Amatory Rainy Night – Kazi Rafi

    Chapter 1 of “Come What May”, a detective story set in Gaza, by Ahmed Masoud

    Come What May, chpt. 11 – Ahmed Masoud

  • Non Fiction
    I AM STILL HERE: It’s not a movie, it’s a hymn to democracy – Loretta Emiri

    I AM STILL HERE: It’s not a movie, it’s a hymn to democracy – Loretta Emiri

    Requiem for a Mattanza – Gia Marie Amella

    Requiem for a Mattanza – Gia Marie Amella

    In Defense of T.C. Boyle: Satire in the Era of Psychological Realism – Clark Bouwman

    In Defense of T.C. Boyle: Satire in the Era of Psychological Realism – Clark Bouwman

    Calixto Robles and Ancestral Spirits in the Mission – A Conversation on Art, Society and Social Action

    That is the Face – Appadurai Muttulingam

    Langston Hughes: Shakespeare in Harlem – Barry David Horwitz

    Langston Hughes: Shakespeare in Harlem – Barry David Horwitz

    The Creeping of the Spirit of the Times and Other Poems – Pina Piccolo

    Understanding the Quintessential Divinity: Binding the Two Geographies – Haroonuzzaman

  • Interviews & reviews
    Michelle Reale’s Volta: An Italian-American Reckoning With Race. Necessary turnabouts as  Columbus Day returns amidst Sinners’ vampires – Pina Piccolo

    Michelle Reale’s Volta: An Italian-American Reckoning With Race. Necessary turnabouts as Columbus Day returns amidst Sinners’ vampires – Pina Piccolo

    from The Creative Process: The Future of activism.  Bayo Akomolafe interviewed by Mia Funk and Natalie McCarthy

    from The Creative Process: The Future of activism. Bayo Akomolafe interviewed by Mia Funk and Natalie McCarthy

    The Spanish Steps, Revisited: A Temporary Exhibition – A conversation with Sheila Pepe

    The Spanish Steps, Revisited: A Temporary Exhibition – A conversation with Sheila Pepe

    from The Creative Process: A Life in Writing with T.C. Boyle, interviewed by Mia Funk & Cary Trott

    from The Creative Process: A Life in Writing with T.C. Boyle, interviewed by Mia Funk & Cary Trott

    Living as a painter: Shaun McDowell in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    Living as a painter: Shaun McDowell in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    Calixto Robles and Ancestral Spirits in the Mission – A Conversation on Art, Society and Social Action

    Calixto Robles and Ancestral Spirits in the Mission – A Conversation on Art, Society and Social Action

  • Out of bounds
    • All
    • Fiction
    • Intersections
    • Interviews and reviews
    • Non fiction
    • Poetry
    Eva Bovenzi: The inner world. The artist in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    Area Sacra at Torre di Largo Argentina —or, Calpurnia’s Dream – Laura Hinton

    from The Creative Process: TIOKASIN GHOSTHORSE, interviewed by Mia Funk and Melannie Munoz

    from The Creative Process: TIOKASIN GHOSTHORSE, interviewed by Mia Funk and Melannie Munoz

    The Creeping of the Spirit of the Times and Other Poems – Pina Piccolo

    From The Stony Guests, Part IV: SIRAN BAKIRCI and SAIT B. KARAKAYA – Neil P. Doherty

    Eva Bovenzi: The inner world. The artist in conversation with curator Camilla Boemio

    Chaos Theory – Michele Carenini

    Of People and Puppets, Kingdoms of Silence, Trauma and Storytelling: Review of “Azad, the rabbit and the wolf – Pina Piccolo

    Of People and Puppets, Kingdoms of Silence, Trauma and Storytelling: Review of “Azad, the rabbit and the wolf – Pina Piccolo

    The Creeping of the Spirit of the Times and Other Poems – Pina Piccolo

    The Creeping of the Spirit of the Times and Other Poems – Pina Piccolo

    Poetry is also born from Gesture – Ikaro Valderrama on Gestos de la Poesia, transnational poetry, multimedia and the energy of the Andes

    Poetry is also born from Gesture – Ikaro Valderrama on Gestos de la Poesia, transnational poetry, multimedia and the energy of the Andes

    A loneliness like an endless steppe – Poems from Maria Luisa Vezzali’s collection Home Ghost

    A loneliness like an endless steppe – Poems from Maria Luisa Vezzali’s collection Home Ghost

    The Creeping of the Spirit of the Times and Other Poems – Pina Piccolo

    Once the veil of artifice falls away: Poems by Haroonuzzaman

  • News
    Memorial Reading Marathon for Julio Monteiro Martins, Dec. 27, zoom live

    Memorial Reading Marathon for Julio Monteiro Martins, Dec. 27, zoom live

    PER/FORMATIVE CITIES

    PER/FORMATIVE CITIES

    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

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Home Out of bounds

PLEA TO FREE THE SLAVES ADDRESSED TO PHARAOH – Mario Bellizzi, with author’s note

With Arabic translation by Ashur Etwebi

May 5, 2021
in Out of bounds, Poetry, The dreaming machine n 8
PLEA TO FREE THE SLAVES ADDRESSED TO PHARAOH – Mario Bellizzi, with author’s note
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PLEA TO FREE THE SLAVES ADDRESSED TO PHARAOH

             B-ISMI-LLĀHI R-RAḤMĀNI R-RAḤĪMI

 

Your Excellency, Pharaoh Cheops (or KHUFU)

I am one of the slaves who built the Pyramid

And on this fragment of parchment is a plea

Written by a  Poet Scribe on my commission.

If it does not reach you in time

It will be read by Pharaoh Ramses II or Nectanebo II

And if further delayed

It will fall under the eyes of a Sovereign

In millenniums to come.

But this is not a problem.

 

[The God RA and the next divinities,

In their unlimited generosity, will give a Dictator to the Arabs

For the poverty of the people and the prosperity of a few.]

 

… By your order the guards

Have jailed me

Due to my imprudent request for a wage increase

  • One scant shat more per month –

[in the future, its actual value shall be quoted as one pound.]

As I told the Scribe, I am in trouble for the love of my woman!

There is little food in our hovel just a few dates

But there are a lot of face creams and unguents

Lipsticks

Kohl (an eye makeup)

Henna for nails and hand palms and feet

Mirrors, tweezers to pluck herself and the manicure kit

Almost all the perfumed essences for the god Shesmu, oh my Pharaoh!

In spite of all these cosmetics

My woman feels I have offended her.

She has worn seven hundred veils on her heart

Arid like the Sahara desert

Useless were the bouquets of SESHEN (lotus flower) I have sent her!

Slave among the stone blocks of the Pyramid

Desperate in that hell that is home.

The damned, in the bazaar Khan el- Khalili

Where people talk about everything and in particular about the turmoil of Tunis,

Have known about a mysterious fragrance of jasmine

Blown by the Shulùq (sirocco)

That mixes with the unbreathable air of our town.

Those time-wasters say that the fragrance of jasmine

Is equal to the Kyphi of the Pharaohs

Of which the historian Plutarch wrote

“It facilitated people’s sleep, it helped to have good dreams,

It relaxed people, it drove away everyday concerns,

It gave a feeling of peace”.

And it was composed of 16 substances:

“Honey, wine, raisin, Cyperus, resin, myrrh, rosewood;

Adding lentisk, concrete, bitumen, scented reed, patience,

Juniper, cardamom, spiced stem, …

it is no coincidence, but according to formulations specified in the sacred books”.

(…) In other documents they talk about 60 essences, among them

Pistachio, mint, cinnamon, incense, …

 

[In the daily report from the General Intelligence

The famous Jihāz al-mukhābarāt al-ʿāmma

You can read the following:

(…) about the flavours that by now are not in the list,

Further investigation is needed,

Because they could contain

Hallucinogenic substances and therefore be subversive!

(…) In fact a contagious hysteria

Has fallen in the streets of al-Qāhira

Where hundreds of women tear off their chadors

And facing hallucinations and delusions

They shout “O’ balna, O’ balna” (we hope for the next).

………………………………………………………………….Omissis (omitted)]

 

 

Oh divine Cheops

If this parchment

Is to be read not by You
But a Shah or a dictator of our time

I shall frankly tell them,

That the society in which we live

Is not a Fascist Regime

But a fiction shot in Western TV studios

To discredit the Arab world.

After having said this, the crazy Egyptian women

Want that cursed scent of jasmine!

But I, poor slave, where will I get the Pounds to buy it?

Nine slaves, desperate like me,

Got burned as torches at Mīdān al-Taḥrīr

Becoming martyrs for a flower!

Setting oneself on fire seems to have become the latest fashion in the Arab world.

[The above it was written on the hieroglyphics of the stele of AL MISRY AL YAOUM during al-Rabīʿ al-ʿArabī 

In 1432-1433 of the Islamic calendar]

 

While heavy insults circulated on nameless clay tablets

Oh Lord of the million Special Forces

That cost a billion pounds,

The UN say that your slaves

Live on less than $ 2 a day.         

Understand the secrets and the message of people

Forget about the modern capital

To be built in the heart of the desert

With Saudi funding.

 

Also if I am inebriated and shocked, oh my Sovereign,

The words that I dictate to my Scribe

Are those that come out from the mouth of Nur-ad-Din

 

We are born into this world bringing nothing with us

We die taking nothing out with us

And in the middle

In the eternity that rejoins

In the short blink of an eyelash

We argue to own something.

 

Since I smell the stench of the prison cell’s dust

(on account of the pound I requested of you)

Oh my Sovereign

I confess that my nostrils too

Smell the scents, but perhaps are āyāt

New olfactory wonders.

My Scribe Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi

That I have not yet introduced to you

He writes in his closing statement-plea

In my defence and to defend hundreds of slaves

Taken to trial into the Courtrooms that

“What you breathe in the air of al-Qāhira

It is not a scent of jasmine but of roses

Simple roses”

And

Roots and branches are

The fragrant sweat of Muhammed

And, by his strength, the half-moon of rose

Grows in a full moon now.

 

For slaves as we are, it means

That the roots of our Soul find essence

From the fecund earth of the illusions

Fertilized by the riot

For which there are no more days forward

Other than those to be lived inside jails.

 

The voices of the illiterate fathers

Always repeat to us

Verse 59 of the sixth Sura of al–Qurʾān

He has the keys of the Invisible that only He knows

Our ancestors told us that was

The Messenger Abû Hurayra

To refer the words of Muhammad

“Ninety-nine names belong to Allah

  • One hundred minus one –

They are memorized only by those who will earn Heaven.

To tell the truth HE is the Unequal, HE loves the odd things”.

 

I am in Hell and I do not know if I shall go to Heaven,

But if you want here is the list of the 99 names!

 

  1. الله Allâh
    2. الأحَد al-Ahad
    3. الأعْلَى al-A’lâ
    4. الأكْرَم al-Akram
    5. الإله al-Ilâh
    6. الأوَّل al-Awwal
    7. الآخِر al-Akhir
    8. الظاهِر az-Zâhir
    9. البَاطِن al-Bâtin
    10. البارِئ al-Bâri
    11. البَرّ al-Barr
    12. البَصِير al-Basîr
    13. التَّوَّاب at-Tawwab
    14. الجَبَّار al-Jabbar
    15. الحافِظ al-Hâfidh
    16. الحَسِيب al-Hasîb
    17. الحَفِيظ al-Hafîz
    18. الحَفِيُّ al-Hafiyy
    19. الحقّ al-Haqq
    20. المُبِين al-Mubîn
    21. الحَكِيم al-Hakîm
    22. الحَلِيم al-Halîm
    23. الحَمِيد al-Hamîd
    24. الحَيّ al-Hayy
    25. القَيُّوم al-Qayyûm
    26. الخَبِير al-Khabîr
    27. الخَالِق al-Khâliq
    28. الخَلاّق al-Khallâq
    29. الرَّؤُوف ar-Ra’ûf
    30. الرَّحْمَان ar-Rahmân
    31. الرَّحِيم ar-Rahîm
    32. الرَّزَّاق ar-Razzâq
    33. الرَّقِيب ar-Raqîb
    34. السّلام as-Salâm
    35. السَّمِيع as-Samî’
    36. الشَاكِر ash-Shâkir
    37. الشَّكُور ash-Shakûr
    38. الشَّهِيد ash-Shahîd
    39. الصَّمَد as-Samad
    40. العَالِم al-‘Alim
    41. العزيز al-‘Azîz
    42. العَظِيم al-‘Azhîm
    43. العَفُوّ al-‘Afuww
    44. العَلِيم al-‘Alîm
    45. العَلِيّ al-‘Aliyy
    46. الغَفَّار al-Ghaffâr
    47. الغَفُور al-Ghafûr
    48. الغَنِيّ al-Ghaniyy
    49. الفَتَّاح al-Fattâh
    50. القَادِر al-Qâdir
    51. القَاهِر al-Qâhir
    52. القُدُّوس al-Quddûs
    53. القَدِير al-Qadîr
    54. القَرِيب al-Qarîb
    55. القَوِيّ al-Qawiyy
    56. القَهَّار al-Qahhâr
    57. الكَبِير al-Kabîr
    58. الكَرِيم al-Karîm
    59. اللَّطِيف al-Latîf
    60. المُؤمِن al-Mu’min
    61. المُتَعَالِي al-Muta’âlî
    62. المُتَكَبِّر al-Mutakabbir
    63. المَتِين al-Matîn
    64. المُجِيب al-Mujîb
    65. المَجِيد al-Majîd
    66. المُحِيط al-Muhît
    67. المُصَوِّر al-Musawwir
    68. المُقْتَدِر al-Muqtadir
    69. المُقِيت al-Muqît
    70. المَلِك al-Malik
    71. المَلِيك al-Malîk
    72. المَولَى al-Mawlâ
    73. المُهَيْمِن al-Muhaymin
    74. النَّصِير an-Nasîr
    75. الوَاحِد al-Wâhid
    76. الوَارِث al-Wârith
    77. الوَاسِع al-Wâsi’
    78. الوَدُود al-Wadûd
    79. الوَكِيل al-Wakîl
    80. الوَلِيّ al-Waliyy
    81. الوَهَّاب al-Wahhâb‎
    82. الجَمِيل al-Jamîl
    83. الجَوَاد al-Jawâd
    84. الحَكَم al-Hakam
    85. الحَيِّي al-Hayiyy
    86. الرَّبّ ar-Rabb
    87. الرَّفِيق ar-Rafîq
    88. السُّبُّوح as-Subbûh
    89. السَّيِّد as-Sayyid
    90. الشَّافِي ash-Shâfî
    91. الطَّيِّب at-Tayyib
    92. القابِض al-Qâbid
    93. البَاسِط al-Bâsit
    94. المُقَدِّم al-Muqaddim
    95. المُؤَخِّر al-Mu’akkhir
    96. المُحْسِن al-Muhsin
    97. المُعْطِي al-Mu’tî
    98. المَنَّان al-Mannân
    99. الوِتْر al-Witr
  2. Names extracted from the authentic Sunna سنة

 

Which of the 99 keys will open the door of the Invisible is a mystery!

The hundredth key

The one that opens wide the door of the prisons

I know that you own it!

Open those doors, oh my Pharaoh!

Nobody can live in a country

Where he Who rules lives without eyes

While the innocents cry and pray.

If the scent of roses is Muhammed’s sweat

the sweat of the forehead of people who work is the scent of bread

That feeds the mouth of the world!

Set free those who are in chains,

You cannot send to jail the scent of bread!

Mario Bellizzi, July 2, 2017

 

 Author’s note explaining the circumstances of the poem

This poem was read on the occasion of a poetry meeting-festival, held on an itinerant basis in the Arab countries facing the Mediterranean. Summer 2017.  I had an opportunity to read it  in Alexandria in Egypt; I agreed with the Egyptian organizers about the possibility of reading it, considering that it was a ‘hot’ topic in that period, as I remembered that Giulio Regeni had come to bad end. But there nobody knew about Giulio !!! They Googled it and then exclaimed: “Ah but that was politics! We make poetry!”. I had to insist to sort out the situation. After reading four lines of my poem, they said it was a “political” poem and therefore suggested Idesist. I also had love poems in Arabic … just in case. I complied with their wishes, since I was a guest. But when it was my turn to read my poems, a fellow Tunisian activist poet from the Festival organization ordered everyone to read the poem. Me in Italian and he in Arabic …. It was warmly received and they asked me for copies. I had photocopies made and there was a sort of leafleting among those present. The poem was conceived because in those days activists and trade unionists were being tried in the courts … for strikes organized some time before. In Egypt and especially in Alexandria there was a lot of tension in the air! … The poem was translated into Arabic by my Libyan poet friend Ashur Etwebi, a political refugee in Norway. You can find his translation posted below. The rest belongs only to us.

 


Mario Bellizzi writes poetry in Arbereshe, that is the language of a linguistic minority scattered in southern Italy descended from Albanian settlers who fled their country in the XV and XVII centuries  after the death of Albanian national hero Skandenberg and their country’s takeover by the Ottoman empire. He was born in San Basile, a small town in the province of Cosenza, in Calabria. He publishes in Arberesh journals both in Italy, Albania and Kosovo.  He has published  Chi siamo, Perec 1997,  and Bukura morea, Castrovillari, 2003.  In  2008, he published Goodbye shin vasil and in 2018 his bilingual poetry collection  Lo specchio e l’ombra -Pasiqyri e Hjea. Poesie fuori luogo dai Balcani al Mediterraneo.

 

Cover art: Street scene from Gaza spring 2021, photo by Ahmed Masoud.

 

 

Tags: 99 names of GodAlessandriaAshur EtwebiCheopscontemporary EgyptEgyptfreedomMario BellizziPharaohpoetry festivalpovertyprisonsresistancesecurity stateslavestrade unionstyranny
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