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View Full Version : Mama sweet baklava : a poem to share and analyse



madoooshah
08-05-2009, 01:35 PM
since am working on suhier hammad's poems ,i want to share one of them and i wish you guys can help me in analysing it ..
the poem is full of images , metaphors and similes :)

*Baklava is a rich, sweet pastry which arab women always make for guest and children ... the baklava woks as a metaphore for Arab women throughout time
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MAMA SWEET BAKLAVA


everyone got a favorite
sweet every woman
got a recipe

She is baklava
back bone strong foundation
layers thousand layers
upon each other like
refugees fleeing or cold
children warming each other
holding each other against
stiff hungry winds

thousand and one flaky layers like
her nights and her center
pistachio walnut crushed
years of rough pounded heart
hear her crunch
in the mouths of men

more layers infinite
upon each other pressed
into steel children marriage
nation woman

toothsome and full too much
of her aches stomachs but
at weddings and circumstances
baklava is tissued and stuffed
into pokets purses
for coffe later

this woman called arab
alien to her jaw breaker children
of now and laters and bad chocolate
bars too sweet stickly
blood the honey the glaze
final touch before serving
cutting precise like arched
eyebrows and enough
for everyone

her recipe old and passed
down through word
of hand creating and sustaining
substantial delicious

one and a thousand chiffon
viels of exile
dispoessession and miles
between her and home

the home where she is
sweet and favourite
her recipe known
and appreciated

the walnut almond home
of her where she sits
back with strong black
coffee and finally
tastes herself rose
water sweet
slow delicious

Paulclem
08-05-2009, 05:47 PM
There a strong sense of history and fortitude in the poem with the references to 1001 Nights and the "Back bone strong foundation".

The layers could also refer to the personality of Arab women - which reminds me of the 7 veils dance and eroticism. This is present alongside the prescence of chilren and marriage - steel children marriage" and nationhood - "nation women" which has echoes of motherland and mother tongue.