is also a member of Doctors Without Borders, and much of the writing here explores his experiences with urgency and clarity: "Today, I yelled at three old women / Who wouldn't stop bargaining for pills they didn't need." Joudah's poetry thrives on dramatic shifts in perspective, on continually challenging received notions.from Charles Bainbridge: The Guardian: The Earth in the Attic
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The second section compiles several essays concerned with Latin American literature, including wonderful evocations of Borges and Neruda, of [Alistair] Reid's friendship with both and his translations of their work. The essay is littered with fascinating insights, such as Neruda in Paris telling him, "Don't just translate my poems, I want you to improve them!" It is in a selection of these translations that Reid is in his element.
from Charles Bainbridge: The Guardian: Inside Out
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This quotation from John Berger resonates throughout this edition of M P T dedicated to Palestine. Here is Mahmoud Darwish on the loss of his childhood village: "I wasn't able to memorise the words and protect the place / from being transferred to a strange name fenced in / with eucalyptus trees. While the posters told us: / 'You were never here'." The book features brief histories, letters, memoirs, short polemics and a varied gathering of Israeli and Palestinian poets.
from Charles Bainbridge: The Guardian: Modern Poetry in Translation: Palestine
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