A voice from the land of Pharaohs

pyramids
Originally uploaded by iamnasra.

Silent wind dancing around the pyramids
As she recited her words
The wind retreated behind the shadow
A poetic voice awaking the spirit of pharaohs
The wind appeared from its hideout
So gently carried her voice to far land
To awake any soul who hears her recital voice

Ghada Shahbender

Poetess from Egypt

The Prince and the Eleventh Concubine

I was not raised for servitude

I was not born into slavery

An eleventh concubine…

I will never be.

I will not howl or crawl

I will not with other lionesses brawl

Into that dark circle…

I will never fall.

I cannot be torn apart and shredded

I cannot be taken as anything but a whole

At the alter of your manliness…

I will not surrender my soul.

A prince you are and a prince I want you to be

To hold tenderly, to mount passionately, to embrace intelligently

But anything less…

You cannot expect from me

For my prince sits high on a manly throne

Of desire, love and respectAnd anything less…Of him I cannot accept.

Ghada Shahbender

Ghada Shahbender is a feminine voice from Egypt, her poetic thoughts had touched many members of Poem Hunter, a poerty forum which she is an active member. Rising poetess who expresses herself in a magical melody of poetry. In fact we could even say very few from her country seek to veture writing poetry not with their native language. Living In Poetry caught up with poetess Ghada to get to know her better.

How did you come to poetry?
I used to play poetry games as a child, write things and answer questions in rhyming words. Last year I found myself doing the same thing answering mobile sms messages in rhyme with a friend who writes poetry (Messages to a friend at poem hunter). Some time later I was going through a depression and my therapist recommended that I start writing down my thoughts. They came out in poetry. I posted a poem on poem hunter and was very touched by the feedback and encouragement I got. I’ve been writing since then

Where does a poem begin for you?
For me a poem starts with a thought or as a reaction to something someone said or wrote.

What poets do you admire?
Many! I love Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson in English, Pablo Neruda in Spanish, the Moa’laqat from Jahileya, Nizar Kabbani, Khalil Gobran and Mahmoud Darwish.

What is your writing process and practice?
Very undisciplined at the moment. I’m writing a novel and a biography of an Egyptian political activist and I’m trying to enforce a research, reading and writing discipline on that.

What else inspires you to write?
People, what they say and write mostly

Being from Egypt what inspire you to write in English rather your own Language "Arabic"?
I’m very sad to say that I am not a proficient writer in Arabic!

How much you feel you have mastered writing English poetry?
Not enough.

Though written in English, How much Arabic language employed on your poems to sensuous?
I have recently been translating the Arabic poems of Khaled El Sawy (an Egyptian poet, actor, writer, director) to English. It is an effort on my behalf to internalize the form of the language in hope of writing in Arabic in future. I have also been reading the Qura’an and its interpretation and translation to English. This is reflecting on my English writing. You can see that in the last verse of Miracle Of Birth.

Where can we read more of your poetry?
It’s all on poem hunter

Do you think poetry can be technically sophisticated as when it comes contemporary?
Definitely. A lot of the free form contemporary poetry is highly technical. I’m still unable to carry rhythm and rhyme in free form.

What would you like readers to take from your poem?
True feeling. It can be humor, distress, anger… any form of true feeling

Do you research before you compose a poem?
No not for poetry. I research for my novel and biography.

What advice do you have for readers who might dream of becoming poets?
Write what you feel and don’t be ashamed to share it with others.

How the World Wide Web gave you the chance for your poetry to reaches people?
It was my only chance to publish and now my friends who have known me for years can go somewhere and read what I have written. It has also given me the chance to meet some wonderful poets.

How many poems did you write?
Around 35 since I went to poem hunter. 22 are posted. The rest I like to keep to myself.

What do you see as the role of a poet in society? In other words, who—or what—is a poet?
A poet is a person who can express feeling and thoughts in some form of beautiful language.

You seem to articulate Haiku so well. Tell us how did you discover Haiku and how much haiku has influenced in your poetic writing? Do you feel you are following the traditional Haiku?
I learnt of Haiku a few years ago when I was helping my daughter with literature. At the time we both playfully experimented with Haiku but unfortunately I did not keep a copy of what we jointly wrote. I have been experimenting with Haiku recently and I’m enjoying that tremendously. It is a wonderful form to capture a moment or thought. I stick to the three line 17 syllable format but stray from the more rigid traditional requirements.

On Arabs, Stench and Filth.

Arabs gave the world Algebra

And the science of Alchemy

When Europe was in its dark ages

And Aristotle was blasphemy.

Arabs gave the world soap to wash out filth

And do away with stench

I write this down and think

I sound like a condescending wench

They gave the world sugar

To sweeten the palate and acid tongues too.

Here I go again.

I sound like a narrow-minded shrew.

I should not bother to list the contributions Of Arab Civilization.

In spite of my fury My anger and indignation!

I am not here to give the narrow minded Lessons in history.

That is neither an accomplishment

Nor poetic victory!

On Jews

Growing up at war with Israel

I’d never met a Jewish woman, child or man.

Until a few years ago when I was fortunate

To make the acquaintance of Sheila and Dan.

Fine examples of the human species

The Kurtzers have taught me a lesson in humanity.

I have shared a lot with Sheila.

She can give courses on wisdom and humility.

With Dan I had many a heated discussion

On the unfortunate history of Middle Eastern strife.

We always parted as friends thanks to his broadmindedness

And the tender mediation of his wife.

On poem hunter I met Mark Fry

A sensitive poet of distinction.

And today I have learnt that religion

Should not be an excuse for pain infliction.

In the name of God, Allah, Mohamed, Jesus and Moses:

Spare us the injuries of verbal bullets

And keep this site for poetic roses. I read back

And my words sound somewhat naive.

But they reflect heartfelt sentiment

And stand for what I believe.

Ghada Shahbender

These two poems caught my attention especially the poem titles Jews, it was described as "A refreshing voice of sanity". It touched many who read it in poetic form that you are part of? Not many write can be biased in this matter we want to know your view on it and how this poetry came up?

A while ago a poet on poem hunter insulted Prophet Mohamed. Many poets attacked him and had the poem removed. I did not see the poem but witnessed the war and that is when I wrote A Message to the Warlords of Poem Hunter. Later on the same poet attacked Jews and a Jewish poet who had fought his slander of Prophet Mohamed. I then posted On Jews. The same poet attacked Arabs in response calling Filth and saying he could smell our stench. Within an hour I posted this poem. I was very angry. Now I find it rather naïve but it expressed my emotion so I keep it there.

I dream of a heaven overlooking the river

NileThe Pyramids at a distance

Fishermen in rickety feluccas

A blazing September sunset

And you sitting next to me

Your face touched with a smile

Ghada Shahbender

How much does Egypt influence you as poet?
Egypt influences my whole life and being. I love Egypt deeply and this love carries on to my love of everyone and everything.

In our final question "Where do you want to go with your poetry"?
I want to be published as a female voice from the Middle East. I believe that Middle Eastern women should be heard in the West. We really have a lot to say.

Read more poetry of
~Ghada Shahbender~