Salim Barakat

Kurds, an ethnic minority living across Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Syria, have a long history of great poets. Spanning centuries and moving from an oral to a written form of literature, poets have been and continue to be significant figures in public life. Historically, poetry was prevalent: everything from diet plans to horoscopes to private letters was written in rhymed and metered verse. Poetry was almost synonymous with writing.

Translator’s note: Salim Barakat’s language is intimidatingly dense and complex, flaunting a vast and daunting vocabulary. His texts possess an “organic” music and a formal orientation that are the products of an aggressive and intimate excavation of the Arabic language’s creative and thinking powers. Barakat’s work in poetry and in prose posits a distinct redefining of the poetic, rooted in a confrontation with the Arabic language and close examination of the meaning of its grammar and syntax.