James Byrne reviews Fadhil Al-Azzawi's Miracle Maker, translated by Khaled Mattawa

James Byrne reviews Miracle Maker, the selected poems of the Iraqi writer Fadhil Al-Azzawi in Khaled Mattawa's translation, published by BOA Editions at $14.95. Byrne notes that although the poet has been admired for some forty years, this is his first full-length collection in English. He gives context for the poems: the writer was born in Kirkuk, left Iraq in 1976 for a scholarship in Leipzig and has lived abroad since, and the early work makes better sense when the political situation behind it is kept in view.

The review follows the book roughly in order. It covers Rising to the Spring and The Eastern Tree, the earliest collections, singling out Prisoner No. 907, Romeo in Old Age and the experimental Teachings of F. Al-Azzawi, which uses blank spaces and diagrams. The Eastern Tree is described as a fable whose wanderer Abdullah learns from unlikely teachers, including a flogged donkey, and Byrne picks In Prison and Happiness as turning points in directness. He then argues that the best and most approachable poems lie in the four later collections, written once the poet was free of daily danger. Song of Myself is praised as perhaps the most complete translation, and Elegy for the Living, written on the eve of the 1991 Gulf war, is called worth the price of the book on its own.

Byrne also commends Mattawa, whose own experience of emigration he sees reflected in the care of the versions, and he points to a streak of irony and humour in the later poems, noting The Book of Lies, Newton's Apple, Cockroach and The Surprise. He judges the poems more pressing than ever in a time of conflict between East and West, and regrets that the poet had no English publisher yet in Britain. This is a helpful entry point for readers looking for Arabic poetry in translation.

Work

Miracle Maker (Selected Poems 1960-2002)

Author

Fadhil Al-Azzawi

Publisher

BOA Editions Ltd.

Miracle Maker is a quite incredible book, cleverly translated and rammed with luminous poetics.

James Byrne, The Wolf, issue 9