This Week in Palestine
Love and Strange Horses
By Nathalie Handal
University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, 2010, 96 pages, $14.95
Love and Strange Horses is the latest book of poetry by Nathalie Handal, a Palestinian poet originally from Bethlehem. Her irresistible charm comes through on every page as it does in person. It is a privilege to be able to read her verses and hear them being read. On every page is a discovery, and with every discovery, another one waiting.
In this collection, the poems are sensual and witty, they mourn and rejoice, they question. They cross borders, sing, and remind us of what it is to be human. Nikki Giovanni confirms this: “Sometimes we have questions that seem to defy answers or even suppositions but then we find Love and Strange Horses to help us map out a course to continue loving life. A really wonderful, thoughtful read by an intriguing voice.”
The book is organised into three movements. In the preface poem, “Pasaje,” Handal writes that these are the three movements of the heart - Intima’, Elegía Eroctica, and Terre Música.
Movement I: Intima’ (which means “belonging” in Arabic) consists of 19 poems. The poems in this movement are rooted in the places where we first find love - family, homeland, ancestry. She travels through the world of her belongings, and writes:
History has a way of moving the heart backward.
A way of moving it forward
To protect its past, its tired mind.
And
But it had to come to this instead:
A broken violin
The heart, unsolved
an argument with Jesus or Mohammed
-exile has its ways.
Movement II: Elegía Erotica consists of 16 poems that explore the music of the body. Take the poem, “Javier,” for example; it traverses the life of two lovers who cross and keep missing each other. It is about lovers who fall in the cracks, who are haunted by shadows, who long for something that breathes beyond them, yet who arrive too late. One could read this poem as a metaphor for the Palestinian experience. The poems of this movement are layered and echo the personal and the collective. Although at times it is difficult to isolate these poems from Palestine, the poet insists on love and its journey - whether real or imaginary. And despite the sometimes bleak endings of certain poems, Handal leaves us hopeful. She affirms that our human victory rests in what we choose to believe.
Movement III: Terre Música consists of 17 poems. In this movement, the poet returns to the spirit and to nature. More than in any other movement, Handal explores and experiments with language and form, for example, in “El Mundo” and “Portraits & Truths.” It is also in this section that two important poems are found. The first is “White Trees,” which mirrors the various movements - homeland, the body, nature, and the spirit. She writes:
When the white trees are no longer in sight
they are telling us something,
like the body that undresses
when someone is around,
like the woman who wants
to read what her nude curves
are trying to say,
of what it was to be together,
lips on lips
but it’s over now, the town
we once loved in, the maps
we once drew, the echoes that
once passed through us
as if they needed something we had.
In the second poem of particular importance, “Here and There,” she echoes the quote by Octavio Paz that opens the book, Only the mist is real. This poem, like most of the poems in the book, is a dance between the surreal and the real. She asks:
Is it possible to open these gates?
…. Isn’t it time to meet?
These are questions for lovers and could possibly be questions for Israelis.
The title poem, in three parts, appears at the end of each movement reflecting a carefully crafted book and the traits of a very talented poet.
One of the most interesting elements of Handal’s poetry is its thematic universality. Handal writes about the world from her unique perspective - one of cultural and linguistic multiplicity - while also being deeply rooted in Palestine. The numerous languages that colour her world appear in her work. Her distinctive poetic voice takes her around the globe. And indeed she should be celebrated and read.
Reviewed by Paola Handal-Michael. For more information, visit http://www.nathaliehandal.com/ or http://governessfilms.com/broken_music/.
Love and Strange Horses is the latest book of poetry by Nathalie Handal, a Palestinian poet originally from Bethlehem. Her irresistible charm comes through on every page as it does in person. It is a privilege to be able to read her verses and hear them being read. On every page is a discovery, and with every discovery, another one waiting.
In this collection, the poems are sensual and witty, they mourn and rejoice, they question. They cross borders, sing, and remind us of what it is to be human. Nikki Giovanni confirms this: “Sometimes we have questions that seem to defy answers or even suppositions but then we find Love and Strange Horses to help us map out a course to continue loving life. A really wonderful, thoughtful read by an intriguing voice.”
The book is organised into three movements. In the preface poem, “Pasaje,” Handal writes that these are the three movements of the heart - Intima’, Elegía Eroctica, and Terre Música.
Movement I: Intima’ (which means “belonging” in Arabic) consists of 19 poems. The poems in this movement are rooted in the places where we first find love - family, homeland, ancestry. She travels through the world of her belongings, and writes:
History has a way of moving the heart backward.
A way of moving it forward
To protect its past, its tired mind.
And
But it had to come to this instead:
A broken violin
The heart, unsolved
an argument with Jesus or Mohammed
-exile has its ways.
Movement II: Elegía Erotica consists of 16 poems that explore the music of the body. Take the poem, “Javier,” for example; it traverses the life of two lovers who cross and keep missing each other. It is about lovers who fall in the cracks, who are haunted by shadows, who long for something that breathes beyond them, yet who arrive too late. One could read this poem as a metaphor for the Palestinian experience. The poems of this movement are layered and echo the personal and the collective. Although at times it is difficult to isolate these poems from Palestine, the poet insists on love and its journey - whether real or imaginary. And despite the sometimes bleak endings of certain poems, Handal leaves us hopeful. She affirms that our human victory rests in what we choose to believe.
Movement III: Terre Música consists of 17 poems. In this movement, the poet returns to the spirit and to nature. More than in any other movement, Handal explores and experiments with language and form, for example, in “El Mundo” and “Portraits & Truths.” It is also in this section that two important poems are found. The first is “White Trees,” which mirrors the various movements - homeland, the body, nature, and the spirit. She writes:
When the white trees are no longer in sight
they are telling us something,
like the body that undresses
when someone is around,
like the woman who wants
to read what her nude curves
are trying to say,
of what it was to be together,
lips on lips
but it’s over now, the town
we once loved in, the maps
we once drew, the echoes that
once passed through us
as if they needed something we had.
In the second poem of particular importance, “Here and There,” she echoes the quote by Octavio Paz that opens the book, Only the mist is real. This poem, like most of the poems in the book, is a dance between the surreal and the real. She asks:
Is it possible to open these gates?
…. Isn’t it time to meet?
These are questions for lovers and could possibly be questions for Israelis.
The title poem, in three parts, appears at the end of each movement reflecting a carefully crafted book and the traits of a very talented poet.
One of the most interesting elements of Handal’s poetry is its thematic universality. Handal writes about the world from her unique perspective - one of cultural and linguistic multiplicity - while also being deeply rooted in Palestine. The numerous languages that colour her world appear in her work. Her distinctive poetic voice takes her around the globe. And indeed she should be celebrated and read.
Reviewed by Paola Handal-Michael. For more information, visit http://www.nathaliehandal.com/ or http://governessfilms.com/broken_music/.
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