Exhausted on the Cross It

Exhausted on the Cross ItNajwan Darwish We drag histories behind us, the Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish writes in Exhausted on the Cross, here where theres neither land nor sky. In pared down lines, brilliantly translated from the Arabic by Kareem James Abu Zeid, Darwish records what Ral Zurita describes as something immemorial, almost unspeakablea poetry driven by a moral imperative to be a colossal record of violence and, at the same time, the no less colossal record of

maar kan ook niet om haar verlangen naar wraak

'In simple

essays on poetics

wanneer die gericht en oprecht wordt ingezet

He preferred the circulation and dissemination of his poetry in broadsheets

and the ongoing conversation between life and death

But at the same time he cautions

maar bleef helaas niet voor het antwoord

NourbeSe Philip has written that 'Sift is a formally intricate work that demonstrates a brilliant engagement with the etymological trails (and trials) of language and translation and their interpenetration with empire

and other performances

timely information

and other workers of the world