THE POETRY OF AFGHAN WOMEN: Landay, A Twenty-two Syllable Two-Line Poem

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I’d thought to write a brief post on the landay, but in this 2013 piece Jamie Dedes has surpassed anything I could offer.

Jamie Dedes' THE POET BY DAY Webzine

پاس په كمر ولاړه ګله!
 نصيب دچايي اوبه زه درخيژومه 
O Flower that you grow on the mountain side;
The duty to water you belongs to me, but to whom would you belong?

ستا به د ګلو دوران تير شۍ
زما به پاته شۍ دزړه سوۍ داغونه
The blooming season of your beauty will pass;
But the scorched patches on my heart will always remain fresh.

Zarmina's parents at her grave. She was an poet who died after setting herself on fire. Photo by Seasmus Murphy, 2012, Courtesy of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Zarmina’s parents at her grave. She was a poet who died after setting herself on fire. Photo by Seasmus Murphy, 2012, Courtesy of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting

Last week The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, announced the publication of the June 2013 issue, Landays. The issue is dedicated entirely to poetry composed by and circulated among Afghan women.

After learning the story of a teenage girl, Zarmina, who was forbidden to write poems and burned herself in protest…

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24 thoughts on “THE POETRY OF AFGHAN WOMEN: Landay, A Twenty-two Syllable Two-Line Poem”

  4. Wow, in one sharing you have managed to educate me in two ways: 1) I learned about “The Poetry of Afghan Women, and Zarmina and the continued persecution; 2) I’ve learned of an new cultural form of poetry, the Landay. Saddened, but heartened that you, and others like you, are passing on this awareness.

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