Jerusalem-forum@wanadoo.jo

Zakaria Mohammed

Palestinian Poets

Mohammed was born in 1951 in the Nablus area. He studied Arabic literature at Baghdad University. In addition to his poetry publications, he published his first novel in 1996 and a collection of plays in 1999. His poetry is considered to be one of the best examples of modernist Arabic poetry. He participated in the 1999 Medellin International Poetry Festival in Colombia, and the 2001 Arab World Institute poetry festival in Paris. He lives in Ramallah, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Sakakini Center. 

A Tavern
Here the dead are carousing
Here they shake their heads
to the music of shroud bells.

Emigration
They're all gone
towards that place in the North
where the grasses grow
to the height of their breasts
They left behind them
tattered strips from their children's clothes
and the pegs of their tents
They're gone
Their children on the backs of mules
Their youths carrying baskets
and their sheep's bells
They were like a cloud
climbing up to heaven
The more they penetrated the land
the more their shadows expanded
and returned towards the camps

Their dogs were mute
They would surpass the migrating crowd , then sit down
their eyes watching
the moving shadows
as they ran back ward
like a dark river.