Saturday, December 9th at 11:00 a.m.
Mad Poets Review Volume 20 Book Release Party
The Delaware County Institute of Science
11 Veterans Square, Media, PA 19063
www.madpoetssociety.com
Contributors and Winners of both the 11th & 12th Annual Mad Poets Review Competitions read. I read Life on a Beautiful Day which received Honorable Mention in the 2005 MPR Competition.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006 from 7 – 9 P.M.
Celebrate the Winter Solstice with Poetry and Music
At the Belmont Hills Library
120 Marywatersford Road, Bala Cynwyd, PA
(Off Rte 23, Conshohocken State Road)
www.FriendsofPoetry.com
Host Poet Arlene Bernstein (Friends of Poetry)
Featuring
Eileen d’Angelo (Mad Poets Society)
Ashraf Osman (Philly Poets for Peace)
Bob Small (Poets & Prophets)
Annabella Wood & Joe Fanning (Singer/Songwriter/Guitarists)
***
Program:
1. Bohemian Dreams
2. Seasons
3. 'Tis the Season
4. Written Out
5. Café Lutecia
6. This & That
7. Autobiography
Friday, December 22, 2006
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Thursday, November 02, 2006
The Space Below Us
(To Roland)
The last time we stood together—
before it all broke,
before the silence was brand new again—
we were leaning over the railing,
an atrium of fresh empty floors cascading beneath us,
looking over the void in the same direction,
at the stage, pining for the same thing
that was singing over the music and underneath our reborn hunger.
The pauses that we cloaked with the strumming of our fingers
grew wider than we knew what to do with.
And every now and then the familiarity would drop
like a baby on its head—with a round thud
and the absence of a scream.
It was then that we first let our names
grow distant to our ears again
and the rest of the sentences to our selves.
It was there that I noticed the hair sprouting between your knuckles
and tried to imagine the taste of their brown skin on my lips.
And in that strangeness I almost loved you again—
the shade of your nascent beard,
the wickedness in your eyes,
and the look across the space below us,
always racing to where it shall never rest again…
The last time we stood together—
before it all broke,
before the silence was brand new again—
we were leaning over the railing,
an atrium of fresh empty floors cascading beneath us,
looking over the void in the same direction,
at the stage, pining for the same thing
that was singing over the music and underneath our reborn hunger.
The pauses that we cloaked with the strumming of our fingers
grew wider than we knew what to do with.
And every now and then the familiarity would drop
like a baby on its head—with a round thud
and the absence of a scream.
It was then that we first let our names
grow distant to our ears again
and the rest of the sentences to our selves.
It was there that I noticed the hair sprouting between your knuckles
and tried to imagine the taste of their brown skin on my lips.
And in that strangeness I almost loved you again—
the shade of your nascent beard,
the wickedness in your eyes,
and the look across the space below us,
always racing to where it shall never rest again…
Saturday, October 28, 2006
November Readings
Wednesday, November 1st @ 6 pm:
I will be reading at Robin's Bookstore in Center City (108 S. 13th St.) in an event titled 30 Poets Reading for Peace and Change, presented by Peace/Works & The Mad Poets Society, and featuring a stunning lineup of Philadelphia poets.
Friday, November 10 @ 7 pm:
I will be reading at the Big Blue Marble Bookstore in Mt. Airy (551 Carpenter Lane - Philadelphia, PA 19119) in another round of Philly Poets for Peace, with 5 other wonderful local poets.
For more details, please check out the listings at the PhillyPoetry calendar. I hope you can make it!
Ashraf
I will be reading at Robin's Bookstore in Center City (108 S. 13th St.) in an event titled 30 Poets Reading for Peace and Change, presented by Peace/Works & The Mad Poets Society, and featuring a stunning lineup of Philadelphia poets.
Friday, November 10 @ 7 pm:
I will be reading at the Big Blue Marble Bookstore in Mt. Airy (551 Carpenter Lane - Philadelphia, PA 19119) in another round of Philly Poets for Peace, with 5 other wonderful local poets.
For more details, please check out the listings at the PhillyPoetry calendar. I hope you can make it!
Ashraf
Sunday, October 22, 2006
The Orgy of the Bards
The 18th edition of the Ringing of the Bards—poetry carnival—is here, and it's a special one! It is being hosted by the six "sexual deviants" of WetPoems© (may not be suitable for the workplace), and only "poems of the naughtiest nature" were considered. The challenge was to "unleash the fiercest pheromones" on the Ringing public, making it "the tastiest ringing to date"!
Due to the nature of this Ringing, the members of WetPoems tried to be especially accommodating to the participating blogging poets: "We realize that not everyone is ready to acknowledge their inner naughtiness, but we hope that by providing the option to anonymously submit to this ringing we give all of your inner sexuality and sensuality some room to play."
And so it was, a veritable orgy of poetry, that yours truly was certainly excited (and proud) to be part of! The poems are listed anonymously, but I would be more than happy to reveal, at a later date, which is mine. Till then, happy guessing!
PS: There is a new entry on Poetship, as well, that touches on the subject of eroticism in poetry.
Due to the nature of this Ringing, the members of WetPoems tried to be especially accommodating to the participating blogging poets: "We realize that not everyone is ready to acknowledge their inner naughtiness, but we hope that by providing the option to anonymously submit to this ringing we give all of your inner sexuality and sensuality some room to play."
And so it was, a veritable orgy of poetry, that yours truly was certainly excited (and proud) to be part of! The poems are listed anonymously, but I would be more than happy to reveal, at a later date, which is mine. Till then, happy guessing!
PS: There is a new entry on Poetship, as well, that touches on the subject of eroticism in poetry.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
miporadio
My poem, "A Dozen", is now featured on miPOradio's EPISODE 16 of THE COUNTDOWN, with Bob Marcacci as P.J. (podcast jockey). The episode is now online for your listening pleasure: "For your poetry fix. For your (h)ears only." Listen to it on iTunes, or if you must on ODEO.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Readings
I will be reading at Ursinus College's Literary Society tomorrow, Thursday, October 5 at 7 pm at Zwingli Java Trench. The formal address is 620 E Main St, Collegeville, PA. The Literary Society is an informal poetry group of the creative writing program at Ursinus. The reading will be followed by an open mike for students. I look forward to feeling older than I should be!
On Sunday, October 8 2006, I will be participating in the Schuylkill Valley Journal contributors' reading at the Manayunk Arts Center. The reading will be from 3:00pm to 5:00pm, and the address is 419 Green Lane (rear) Philadelphia PA 19128.
I will also be reading at Robin's Bookstore with Israeli poet, Hanoch Guy, on Thursday October 19 at 7 pm. The event is titled "Peace Through Poetry". I hope you can make it!
On Sunday, October 8 2006, I will be participating in the Schuylkill Valley Journal contributors' reading at the Manayunk Arts Center. The reading will be from 3:00pm to 5:00pm, and the address is 419 Green Lane (rear) Philadelphia PA 19128.
I will also be reading at Robin's Bookstore with Israeli poet, Hanoch Guy, on Thursday October 19 at 7 pm. The event is titled "Peace Through Poetry". I hope you can make it!
Friday, September 29, 2006
A Dozen
To Obe
I bring my arm close to my face
___to take another whiff of you;
it's yet another year
___I don't wish to celebrate.
The sun, as we lay beached
___in the shadow of the tower,
your eyes closed so lightly
___I could read them underneath,
remembered our faces
___from suns before.
And in the humid hum of the afternoon,
we conspired with the sun in our silence.
There was no one else then
___but the two of us,
like a dozen years before,
shedding the lives we accumulated since
___on the side
stashed like overcoats in the heat,
like old chips of paint
___from a room that crumbles still.
But in that moment,
___as you slept with your eyes open,
listening to me watching you,
___as when we used to kiss,
we dropped them,
___the years, the people,
the names we acquired in between.
The sky stood steely above our heads,
___watching us, wishing us,
missing in us the skies of another time,
when love smelled like fresh rain,
and the rain smelled of us.
I bring my arm close to my face
___to take another whiff of you;
it's yet another year
___I don't wish to celebrate.
The sun, as we lay beached
___in the shadow of the tower,
your eyes closed so lightly
___I could read them underneath,
remembered our faces
___from suns before.
And in the humid hum of the afternoon,
we conspired with the sun in our silence.
There was no one else then
___but the two of us,
like a dozen years before,
shedding the lives we accumulated since
___on the side
stashed like overcoats in the heat,
like old chips of paint
___from a room that crumbles still.
But in that moment,
___as you slept with your eyes open,
listening to me watching you,
___as when we used to kiss,
we dropped them,
___the years, the people,
the names we acquired in between.
The sky stood steely above our heads,
___watching us, wishing us,
missing in us the skies of another time,
when love smelled like fresh rain,
and the rain smelled of us.
© Copyright 2010 Obeida Sidani
Excuses
It's the roots that we grow
as we grow older,
It's wishing once again
we were fresher still,
It's the mother that we make
with a new hairdo,
And the noise of us
as we fall to sleep.
as we grow older,
It's wishing once again
we were fresher still,
It's the mother that we make
with a new hairdo,
And the noise of us
as we fall to sleep.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Help me pick a card
Since I have been completely uninspired recently, and I am trying to pick a card for my blog, I thought I'd ask for your input, hoping that that would make my decision easier rather than more difficult (though I should know better...). I had asked my brother for a design, and got 6 instead (don't ask me what happened to No. 2; I never saw it!). Which do you prefer?
1 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7
1 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7
Friday, September 15, 2006
Tagged
I've been tagged, by Hashem. So, here it goes...
1- Do you like the look and the contents of your blog?
Yes... Sure, it's a template, and the buttons to the right are out of control and the links need reorganizing, and one day I hope to give it a rehaul... But it's kinda like me that way ;)
2- Does your family know about your blog?
Absolutely! Actually, my brother was my first reader and critic. I even made a blog of our correspondence (when we used to write more often) called "Dear Theo,". I also started a blog, "losing3it", of my sister's writings, hoping that she would catch the blogging bug and start writing again... But.
3- Can you tell your friends about your blog? Do you consider it a private thing?
Most certainly (not that many of them care!). I consider my blog, like my poetry, a private/public thing. On the one hand, blogs are as personal as they get, but in a way they are guaranteed anonymity by their sheer volume. Similarly, my poetry is often a way of casting some very personal thoughts in a very public light.
4- Do you just read the blogs of those who comment on your blog? or you try to discover new blogs?
I mostly read the blogs of those who comment on mine, and some of those who comment on those I read. Like most people, I imagine, it reaches a point where there are only so many hours in the day, and even those blogs I enjoy I don't always have the chance to catch up on.
5- Did your blog positively affect your mind? Give an example.
Most definitely! I was in a huge depression when I started writing poetry "seriously" and started my blog. Not to say that that alone got me over it, but it definitely did help.
6- What does the number of visitors to your blog mean? Do you use a traffic counter?
I do use a traffic counter, but I don't check it that frequently. Comments mean more to me, but the counter reassures me that there are more people reading than commenting...
7- Did you imagine how other bloggers look like?
Of course. And boy was I wrong in some of my assumptions! (For some reason, I imagined Eve to wear a hijab, and she didn't...). That's why I appreciate it when people have some semblence of themselves as their avatar.
8- Do you think blogging have any real benefit?
Obviously, or else I wouldn't be doing this, would I? Not that I think it will solve the world's problems, but--as much as I hate the word--it is "fun"!
9- Do you think that the blogsphere is a stand alone community separated from the real world?
Yes, bloggers only exist as figments of the imagination! What sort of a questions is that? A "stand alone community separated from the real world"? Like, whatever... Next!
10- Do some political blogs scare you? Do you avoid them.
I guess I avoid the political blogs that would scare me. But I can certainly imagine their existence out there: right-wing, conservative, bigoted, etc.
11- Do you think that criticizing your blog is useful?
Maybe. If you care to know my more detailed thoughts about the value of criticism, I refer you to "Back-scratching", a post on Poet`ship (a blog of poetic discussions, amongst other digressions, between me and my friend Katy).
12- Have you ever thought about what happen to your blog in case you died.
Yes, since I read this question, in Arabic, at MysteriousEve. Not that anyone can tell, or I'd care much once I'm dead, so I just brushed it aside... "and legion the things I would give to oblivion."
13- Which blogger had the greatest impression on you?
I have to admit, this is easy for me to answer: most definitely Katy.
14- Which blogger you think is the most similar to you.
I'd like to think--even though she writes in Arabic--it's Eve.
15- Name a song you want to listen to?
Fairouz's "Wahdoun".
16- Ask five bloggers to answer these question on their blogs?
Scheherazade
Ziad
Cecilia
Fouad
Katy
1- Do you like the look and the contents of your blog?
Yes... Sure, it's a template, and the buttons to the right are out of control and the links need reorganizing, and one day I hope to give it a rehaul... But it's kinda like me that way ;)
2- Does your family know about your blog?
Absolutely! Actually, my brother was my first reader and critic. I even made a blog of our correspondence (when we used to write more often) called "Dear Theo,". I also started a blog, "losing3it", of my sister's writings, hoping that she would catch the blogging bug and start writing again... But.
3- Can you tell your friends about your blog? Do you consider it a private thing?
Most certainly (not that many of them care!). I consider my blog, like my poetry, a private/public thing. On the one hand, blogs are as personal as they get, but in a way they are guaranteed anonymity by their sheer volume. Similarly, my poetry is often a way of casting some very personal thoughts in a very public light.
4- Do you just read the blogs of those who comment on your blog? or you try to discover new blogs?
I mostly read the blogs of those who comment on mine, and some of those who comment on those I read. Like most people, I imagine, it reaches a point where there are only so many hours in the day, and even those blogs I enjoy I don't always have the chance to catch up on.
5- Did your blog positively affect your mind? Give an example.
Most definitely! I was in a huge depression when I started writing poetry "seriously" and started my blog. Not to say that that alone got me over it, but it definitely did help.
6- What does the number of visitors to your blog mean? Do you use a traffic counter?
I do use a traffic counter, but I don't check it that frequently. Comments mean more to me, but the counter reassures me that there are more people reading than commenting...
7- Did you imagine how other bloggers look like?
Of course. And boy was I wrong in some of my assumptions! (For some reason, I imagined Eve to wear a hijab, and she didn't...). That's why I appreciate it when people have some semblence of themselves as their avatar.
8- Do you think blogging have any real benefit?
Obviously, or else I wouldn't be doing this, would I? Not that I think it will solve the world's problems, but--as much as I hate the word--it is "fun"!
9- Do you think that the blogsphere is a stand alone community separated from the real world?
Yes, bloggers only exist as figments of the imagination! What sort of a questions is that? A "stand alone community separated from the real world"? Like, whatever... Next!
10- Do some political blogs scare you? Do you avoid them.
I guess I avoid the political blogs that would scare me. But I can certainly imagine their existence out there: right-wing, conservative, bigoted, etc.
11- Do you think that criticizing your blog is useful?
Maybe. If you care to know my more detailed thoughts about the value of criticism, I refer you to "Back-scratching", a post on Poet`ship (a blog of poetic discussions, amongst other digressions, between me and my friend Katy).
12- Have you ever thought about what happen to your blog in case you died.
Yes, since I read this question, in Arabic, at MysteriousEve. Not that anyone can tell, or I'd care much once I'm dead, so I just brushed it aside... "and legion the things I would give to oblivion."
13- Which blogger had the greatest impression on you?
I have to admit, this is easy for me to answer: most definitely Katy.
14- Which blogger you think is the most similar to you.
I'd like to think--even though she writes in Arabic--it's Eve.
15- Name a song you want to listen to?
Fairouz's "Wahdoun".
16- Ask five bloggers to answer these question on their blogs?
Scheherazade
Ziad
Cecilia
Fouad
Katy
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
RotB XII
This week's Poetry Carnival is in Almaty, Kazakhstan, at Russell Ragsdale's Yuckelbel's Canon; please drop by.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Never Forget
A new e-mail from my brother:
". . . Because in the past five weeks I only lost four, and I still stand poor.
Every story on this planet springs from me, and dies in my arms, Pietà. This story does, too.
I live in a city that is not a city, I live in city that does not love itself, in a city thirsty, hungry, and kissing.
I know everything. I know the dreams and the nightmares that attack you just before sunrise, I know of the sweat at my armpits, shit, and I know of terrorism and globalisation but I will tell you of the rest.
Of the words written at the margins, and of the margins yet to be discovered, of only the things that I see and feel, of the bad air that I breathe.
. . .
I live in a country that is not loved by anyone, and that is open to everyone's Freudian fantasies (in both senses; sexual and aggressive). It is okay if our civilians are slaughtered, and Israel may block gas, food, and air from us upon any whim. No one shall object, anyway, because we are wléed kalb [sons of dogs].
Shall I tell you of the monsters? The monsters are those who we leave behind once we decide that it is okay if we asked for a decent life, id est a life where we do not need to worry about not having enough water, electricity, units, money, or security to-morrow. The monsters leave once we realise that we do not even have minima, and yet we love this place.
The monsters spring from Mohammad who tells you that you do not need to learn everything from your own bag, and that he cannot live again; all Mohammad had was one life.
The monsters are very simple. When they have (Japanese) tea, the monsters make jokes about the Lebanese not daring to plan for to-morrow, because they know that whatever they plan, it shall not happen.
And I am not mourning here, and I am not sad and not complaining. I am writing to tell you of the monsters that live inside of me . . ."
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