Imersion by Verse

Yahya

The Gold Shop of Ba-‘Ali by Yahya Frederickson (2014. Lost Horse Press. 9780991146529)

A chance meeting with the author of this volume of English language poems set in Yemen led me to buy a signed copy of The Gold Shop. Dr. Frederickson and I were situated next to each other at a local authors gathering at the Duluth Public Library. We didn’t exchange books; we actually paid over hard-earned cash to each other (though a trade would have made more economic sense!). Not usually a devotee of poetry, my purchase sat on my bedside table for a bit. Needing a “read” for lunchtime at work, I brought The Gold Shop to the courthouse where it again waited its turn. I picked the book up earlier this week and found I couldn’t put it down.

Frederickson, a professor at Minnesota State-Moorhead, has spent considerable time in the Middle East, first in Yemen and then later, in Syria and Saudi Arabia. This slender volume depicts the turmoil, grit, atmosphere, and Islamic faith of Yemen in subtle, and, at times, direct ways. There is a mystical quality to Frederickson’s writing that is both touchingly sentimental and hardened by the reality of eternal war and conflict. Here’s a sample from “Revolution Day”:

On the roof of Bayat Abu-Talib, I’m eating grapes

and reading the explosions over Tahrir Square.

Liars, they proclaim, this is yours. But there is something

about their sounds, so distant, so muffled.

 

A few floors below, my friends light a candle

in the blackout, whisper the latest gossip

into the lapping light…

(2014 (c). Yahya Fredrickson)

This is just one example of the power and brilliance of Yahya’s minimalist approach to evoking a region of the world, a culture, and a  religion that few Westerners understand with any sort of depth or appreciation. I was so enthralled with the lyrical quality of these poems that I immediately went to the Bookstore at Fitger’s and purchased a translation of the Koran so I could begin to understand the point of religious view and culture expressed in these fine, fine vignettes.

4 and 1/2 stars out of 5.

 

About Mark

I'm a reformed lawyer and author.
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