Poetictouch

Podcasts

2008-05-15T23:30:00.000+03:00

Al-Jazeera.net
15 May 2008
11:00 pm

• Video: Democracy Now! - 15 May 2008

• Radio: BBC World Service (Arabic/English) | Classic FM Live

Al-Nakba 1948-2008

2008-05-15T23:20:00.000+03:00

A Palestinian student paints an illustration of the Nakba (Catastrophe) in Gaza City, 14 May 2008. 'Nakba' refers to the expulsion or flight of thousands of Palestinians following the creation of Israel in 1948. (AFP) | Click here or on image to enlarge

A Palestinian child takes part in a Nakba (Catastrophe) rally in the West Bank city of Ramallah, 15 May 2008. 'Nakba' refers to the expulsion or flight of thousands of Palestinians following the creation of Israel in 1948. (Reuters) | Click here or on image to enlarge

A Palestinian woman holds a sign with the name of her former village written in Arabic during celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the 'Nakba' (Catastrophe) in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, 12 May 2008. (AFP) | Click here or on image to enlarge

George Galloway Marks Al-Nakba

2008-05-15T23:10:00.001+03:00

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British MP George Galloway signs a board before his participation in a symposium in Amman, 13 May 2008, against Israeli attacks on Palestinians and to mark the Nakba (Catastrophe), when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced to flee their homes in the fighting that accompanied the creation of Israel in 1948. (Reuters)

Click here or on image to enlarge

British MP George Galloway takes part in a symposium in Amman, 13
May 2008, against Israeli attacks on Palestinians and to mark the
Nakba, or 'Catastrophe'. (Reuters) | Click here or on image to enlarge

Serat El-Hobb - Music

2008-05-15T12:50:00.000+03:00

Nancy Ajram - Serat El-Hobb

2008-05-15T08:10:00.000+03:00

Arabic Music - Ya Tayeb El-Galb

2008-05-15T07:50:00.000+03:00

Song: Ya Tayeb El-Galb by Fadel Shaker

Pooh's Wisdom

2008-05-15T07:40:00.000+03:00

I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.
~ Claude Monet

Heikal On Middle East Affairs

2008-05-14T17:10:00.012+03:00

Mohamed Hassanein Heikal
On Middle East Affairs (Arabic)

Aljazeera - 08 May 2008

Wafa Ghorbal - Songs

2008-05-14T15:20:00.000+03:00

Wafa Ghorbal
Songs

Inta Omri - Wafa Ghorbal

2008-05-14T02:30:00.000+03:00

Inta Omri - Dalal Abu Amneh

2008-05-14T02:20:00.000+03:00

T. S. Eliot - The Waste Land (Audio)

2008-05-13T18:40:00.000+03:00

The Waste Land
by T. S. Eliot (1888-1965)

Read by the author

Lebanon In Crisis

2008-05-12T23:20:00.000+03:00

A man tapes a broken window at his house after sectarian clashes in the Shwayfat area, near Beirut, Lebanon, 12 May 2008. (Reuters)
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The town of Shwayfat is seen through a shattered window, after sectarian clashes near Beirut, Lebanon, 12 May 2008. (AFP)
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A burned poster of slain former PM Rafik Hariri is seen the day after an anti-government gunmen attacked and set fire to a building that belongs to Hariri's Future TV in Beirut, Lebanon, 10 May 2008. (AP)
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A poster of slain former PM Rafik Hariri catches fire after anti-government gunmen attacked and set on fire a 2-story building that belongs to Hariri's Future TV in Beirut, Lebanon, 09 May 2008. (AP)
Click here or on image to enlarge

Misty Mountain Scene - Looking For A Haiku

2008-05-12T15:20:00.001+03:00

Misty Mountain Scene - Looking For A Haiku | ~ Fractal Artist
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Let's Get Loud

2008-05-11T13:50:00.000+03:00

The Reader

2008-05-11T13:40:00.000+03:00

Ophelia by Pierre Auguste Cot
(1837-1883)
Click here or on image to enlarge

Her life is spent between pages. Someone else's words feed her soul. Someone else's thoughts and characters have become embedded in the tapestry of her life. But, where do they end and where does she begin? Her mind is not an empty vessel, after all, waiting to be filled with the musings of another.

So then you have to ask, do the books she can not live without merely mirror what already exists in her heart? Do they reflect truths that she already knows, yet remain buried deep within complex layers of her psyche until she recognizes them as her own through the eyes and words of an author? She finds that the layers peel away with each new experience. Exposure to different authors helps her to blossom. Even an author who lived and breathed a century before in a time vastly different from her own. She can picture them sitting as they write, wondering if it is good enough and making revisions in the midst of candlelight. Never knowing that their words would mean so much to a girl not even born yet. Authors in another age with courage enough to scribble their very soul on paper. Yes, this person had more courage than she. For her days and nights (when not spent reading) are spent imagining tales and writing words she never intends anyone to ever read. She accepts the fact that she will never be a "writer".

Or will she? It remains to be seen.

But to be a reader? This she is proud of. She knows she is part of a delicate dance between authors and those that read the product of their craft. For what is the beauty of a sonata if it is unheard? She is crucial to the dance, yes even to those who penned their words centuries ago. For their stories become a part of who she is, that is their immortality. They feed her and contribute to her. She is the parasite absorbing their creativity to feed her own. And she grows.

7 September 2006.

• Source: The Reader: An Autobiographical Tale by Stephanie Pina

Have You Ever Been In Love?

2008-05-11T13:30:00.000+03:00

Les Amants [The Lovers]
by René Magritte (1898-1967)
Click here or on image to enlarge

Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens your heart and it means someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses. You build up this whole armor, for years, so nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life... You give them a piece of you. They don't ask for it. They do something dumb one day like kiss you, or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so a simple phrase like "Maybe we should just be friends" or "How very perceptive" turns into a glass splinter working its way to your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a body-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. Nothing should be able to do that. Especially not love. I hate love.

• Source: The Sandman - Vol. 9 The Kindly Ones by Neil Gaiman

Ahebbik

2008-05-10T13:20:00.000+03:00

Granada - Frank Sinatra

2008-05-10T07:40:00.002+03:00

Granada
by Frank Sinatra

Granada, I'm falling under your spell,
And if you could speak, what a fascinating tale you would tell.
Of an age the world has long forgotten,
Of an age that weaves a silent magic in Granada today.

The dawn in the sky greets the day with a sigh for Granada.
For she can remember the splendor that once was Granada.
It still can be found in the hills all around as I wander along,
Entranced by the beauty before me,
Entranced by a land full of flowers and song.

When day is done and the sun starts to set in Granada
I envy the blush of a snow-clad tierra nevada.
Soon it will welcome the stars
While a thousand guitars play a soft carbinera.
Then moonlit Granada will live again,
The glory of yesterday, romantic and Granada.

Granada - Angela Gheorghiu

2008-05-10T01:30:00.000+03:00

Maryam

2008-05-09T14:30:00.005+03:00

Maryam - Quran - Surah 019
Recited by Abdul Baset Abdul Samad (Mujawwad)

Background Picture: Holy Quran - Sorat Maryam by Qatari Mother

Quran Podcast

2008-05-09T14:10:00.000+03:00

Abdul Baset Abdul Samad - Mujawwad

Pokarekare Ana - Hayley Westenra

2008-05-09T11:10:00.004+03:00

Pokarekare Ana
A Traditional New Zealand Love Song

Maori

Pökarekare ana
ngä wai o Waiapu,
Whiti atu koe hine
marino ana e.

E hine e
hoki mai ra.
Ka mate ahau
I te aroha e.

Tuhituhi taku reta
tuku atu taku rïngi,
Kia kite tö iwi
raru raru ana e.

Whati whati takupene
ka pau aku pepa,
Ko taku aroha
mau tonu ana e.

E kore te aroha
e maroke i te rä,
Mäkükü tonu i
aku roimata e.

English

They are agitated
the waters of Waiapu,
But when you cross over girl
they will be calm.

Oh girl
return to me,
I could die
of love for you.

I have written my letter
I have sent my ring,
so that your people can see
that I am troubled.

My pen is shattered,
I have no more paper
But my love
is still steadfast.

My love will never
be dried by the sun,
It will be forever moistened
by my tears.

The Neck Of A Maiko

2008-05-08T15:30:00.001+03:00

Sometimes if one is lucky then one can meet a maiko or geisha in the small streets of Gion in Kyoto. Like this one who was so kind to wait for a few moments so that people like me could take some pictures of her:) ~ manganite | Click here or on image to enlarge

I Have A Dream - Martin Luther King

2008-05-08T01:40:00.002+03:00

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history
as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our
nation... ~ Martin Luther King: I Have A Dream

• Video: Martin Luther King: I Have A Dream (YouTube)