POETRY RECITAL

Art Galleries
February 20th, 2000

In the courtyard of the UAE Art Society a number of Arabic and Danish poets presented their works.
All poems were recited in both Arabic and Danish and translated simultaneously.
 
Among the poets were:
Khaled Badr Obaid
Adel Khozam

 
And from Denmark:
Lars Bukdahl, poet and critic
Dr. phil. Per Aage Brandt, poet and researcher
Ph.D. Salim Abdali, poet and physicist

Poems by Lars Bukdahl

Like doors without walls
We stand still
In the middle of the day
Opened and closed
Without waiting.
*
How large
Is our life,
And a kiss,
But without
These smaller things
Every now and then,
How breathe?
*
Doors open and doors close,
Doors fall down from the sky,
Doors drive through the street
Doors wash up on the beach
Between doors and doors
And doors is the world,
And the door the most open
Is yours and mine closed in a kiss.



Poems by Per Aage Brandt

On something and what follows from this
(excerpts)
*
a contour without weight glides across a wall.
Nothing can stop it, just as nobody can
Prevent a name or a song or a longing
Or a shadow or your face from existing
*
(Silence).
- You`re so absent.
- You`re so absent yourself.
- Tell me why.
- Tell me why yourself.
- You make me so sad.
- How do you think I feel?
- That´s what I am asking you.
- You make me absent.
- I`m right here.
- Me too, cut it out.
(Silence).



Poems by Salim Abdali

you left
packed my days in a suitcase
packed my words
packed my sight
when it, in the telling, tries to hunt your restless smile
 
packed my teasing
when earnestness embraces you
packed my restiveness
our await meeting
my breath at night
traveling back and forth between me and your shoulders
my face in the morning, covered with your wet-hair fragrance
 
dearest,
why should you forget to pack my eagerness to see you again