BIO
Abdel-Rahim Jdaih is a Jordanian poet, critic, educator, artist, and journalist. He was born in the city of Irbid in 1964. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts, a Master’s degree in Classic Archeology, and a higher diploma in Education. In addition to his position as an educator, he worked with the media and received several awards for his broadcasting programs, poetry, and photography. He was also elected as a member of the board of Jordanian Writers Association. Jdaih has published a number of poetry collections, including: The Horses are at the Outskirts of my Heart (2000), The Death of Words (2004), Sinbad in his Last Journey (2006), What is the Color of Time (2010), A Memory that Carries its own Blue (2013), Perplexed Circles (2015). In addition he has published several prose works, including The Anthem of the Vineyards (2008), The Childhood of an Alphabetical Letter (2011), and An Age without Tales (2014).
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The She-Wolf
The she-wolf is howling inside me
I bite her
And she deprives me of my flesh
She slams her fingers at my chest
and the whole world bursts in furious howling
I beg her
I do not know
how the world would be
without the wolves
Who would set Mero free
Who would erase a wild moon
and tear the quilts of clouds on a moon
that’s been touched by the wind
The rustling of leaves
is a barking sound
the flaming body is calling
Who can paint a wolverine-colored
moon to court Laila
invade her garden
howl without a sky
My caravan is a single wolf.. and women
my caravan’s howling
and the wolf is vanquished
.
Blind Night
I
Fill me
I do not like emptiness
Perfume my sorrow
with a naïve-countenanced
blind
night
.
II
My stone head
dangled from God knows where.
Said the soothsayers,
The great universal volcano,
dropped it
on my shoulders
.
III
I’m kneaded from the soil of the earth
and the soil loves me
I am a dark grip like my tribe
and my tribe
fought against each other
at the time of departure
at every gate
*****
