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Moris Farhi
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Book
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Publisher | Saqi Books | ||
ISBN | 9780863564086 | ||
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Reviewer
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Wendy
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Synopsis
The poems in Songs from Two Continents follow a tradition extended from the folk poetry of the common peoples of Turkey, infusing Moris Farhi's Turkish roots with his European upbringing. Farhi's themes are similarly binary and often paradoxical. Thus from carnality to unrequited love, from rapture to sorrow, from mysticism to empiricism, from subjection to freedom, his poems endeavour to express simply - even linearly - the essence of our sensibilities. They seek love and liberation even as they despair of humankind's propensity for conflict and brutality. Whether conceived in Farhi's maturity as a writer or in his rambunctious early years, these poems enquire into such themes with their author's customary sensual verve and passionate intelligence. In the same vein as Nazum Hikmet and Orhan Veli, Moris Farhi has developed the idea that poetry should be the pure distillation of emotions, unleashed through existence.
Review
I have not read any contemporary poetry before so this book was a revelation.The subjects are diverse and intensly
moving.
Moris Farhi touches all our raw emotions especially love in it's many forms. Some of the language in his poems is quite erotic but in this context never crude. The use of one word under the other is very effective because it enables
the reader to focus on exactly what is being written.
There are so many good poems in this book that I found it quite difficult to single out just two which I really enjoyed. As I love trees 'Historgraphy' is a poem about one of the miracles of nature - the life of a tree and it's life giving properties - I really enjoyed this poem as I love to walk in the countryside near me and see the trees in all their glory.
My favourite poem however is 'Farewell Gift' written after the death of his beloved wife Nina. This is the most moving poem I have ever read. The idea that her last breaths were given to him,I found very emotional.
I enjoyed this book very much and I know I will read these poems time and time again. Highly Recommended.
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