POP V

Apparently we don't know how to take flash-free pictures

The Palestine Writing Workshop (if you don't officially Like them on facebook, then you're a loser) once again presented a Poetry of Palestine night at the ambrosial Cafe La Vie. Poets for tonight were Dalia Taha, a Birzeit University graduate with a degree in Architecture who contributes often to literary journals in the West Bank; Asmaa' Azaizeh, who has been featured previously on POP nights; and hailing from Bil'in, Anas Abu Rahmeh, who is a fellow Birzeit University student earning a degree in Arabic literature.
                                                                                                                                                             Asmaa' Azaizeh

Again and again poetry nights have been exceeding our lofty expectations and tonight’s was no less then pure entertainment, imagination and a tad bit of reminiscence. Dalia Taha started off the event pleasantly enough as more and more people squeezed their way in. We counted five rows of standing people behind us. Asmaa' followed next, and her tone, her powerful voice, and her words once again put us under her spell, which took us on a journey to the mountain of Carmel and the inner streets of the faded heavily ethnically cleansed city of Haifa. There's something magical about the classical Arabic language which in itself seems to be so rich in dulcet images and euphonious metaphors. Anas was the last to perform before the open mic session commenced, and a few of his poems amused us for the simple popular cultural catchphrases utilized in a way to describe political and apolitical experiences. He reminded us of our childhood block party games: Palestinians Vs Israelis, and Arabic proverbs such as fostook faddi. In addition, he had us somewhat oddly puzzled with a few of his poems which we cannot even began to explain but encompassed the theme of...pissing.

Four people made up the participants for the open mic session but the real star was the fourth novice- 6th grader Fadi Arafeh who opened up his performance with peerless confidence and a couple of nationalistic poems. A break soon followed, and then a viewing of Nasri Hajjaj's film "As the Poet Said" was shown. Donations were also collected-the Palestine Writing Workshop needs the moolah! But only to give back to the community in priceless ways of course.

We really hope POP night becomes a monthly event-the turnout is always good, people generally have a good time, and it's a nice change from the routine life to listen to talented voices.