Baithak World May 14: Death of Poetry, Headlines, Cartoons, RealNews

Literary circles in the Arab world last week commemorated the tenth anniversary of the death of the Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani (1923-1998), and this month marks 25 years since the death of the Egyptian poet Amal Donqol (1940-1983). Though they belonged to different generations -- and had very different literary sensibilities -- these two poets shared certain things: many of their poems have strong political overtones and the popularity of their poems has meant that they are still widely read and quoted from today.

Qabbani began writing poetry in the 1940s while still a law student in Damascus. His lyrical, playful poetry of the 40s and 50s, epitomised by collections such as Childhood of a Breast (1948), You Are Mine (1950), Poems (1956) and My Beloved (1961), typically dealt with love themes interwoven with a mild streak of eroticism. This shocked many conservative Arabs and led to the banning of some of his early books. The death of grand poetry?


Headlines

Poor Iraqis & Afghans: Gates Says New Arms Must Play Role Now

Israel Museum puts Dead Sea scroll on rare display

A deadly miscalculation in Lebanon

Hezbollah's shots ring in Bush's ears

Why Myanmar's junta steals foreign aid

Parsis may be silenced by success

Books on The Rise of the Muslim Terrorists

Canada:Time to end expat loopholes

Here are 8 reasons why this is the dumbest generation.

Catholic League's Inaccurate Critique of FAIR: Group mischaracterized document in defending Pope Benedict

Bonnie Fuller Steps Down As Chief Editorial Director Of AMI

Rumsfeld On 2006 Election: "The Correction For That...Is An Attack"

Belief in God 'Childish,' Jews Not Chosen People: Einstein Letter

Samir El-youssef: Israel at 60

Jon Stewart Interviews Douglas Feith

Punishment for Peace overture with Syria: Another Corruption Scandal Pursues Olmert

FAUX News Now Trying To Paint Obama As Hamas Supporter

SPIEGEL Interview with Brazilian President Lula: 'We Want to Join OPEC and Make Oil Cheaper'

Plagiarism: Professor withdraws pictures of Hiroshima

A map highlighting Palestinian loss of land starting in 1948, map on the left, to 2000. The green areas are Palestinian.

The Harsh Reality of the Middle East Conflict

Mustafa Hussein in Al-Akhbar of Egypt

Brodner's Cartoon du Jour: Hillary Clinton

Paul Jay present RealNews

Bringing the Wall St. crisis to Main St. Danny Schechter: Economic crisis is ruining people's lives, the media has failed to tell the full story view Pakistan: Sharif withdraws from coalition Members of the Muslim League N have quit the cabinet over disagreement on reinstating judges view Earthquake hits south-west China Guardian: More than 7,600 are dead after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake strikes Chinese province of Sichuan view Gaza: Secret tunnels used to smuggle gas Guardian: Gaza grinding to a halt without fuel view Iraqa: Locals bring security to Adhamiya Alive in Baghdad: Local people say they support their Sahwa Council and oppose the US occupation view