CompleteWord

This blog is about the surprise and delight of word-sharing  and women’s empowerment. [The on-line thesaurus asks me if I mean employment; suggests implement, and impediment, since apparently, "empowerment" has taken a leave of absence or was fired. ]

~Ink runs from  the corners of my mouth./ There  is no happiness like mine./ I have been eating poetry./ The librarian does not believe what she sees… [Mark Strand]

 <> My poetry class will start in the fall as part of  Public Programs at CIIS,  San Francisco. “Eating Poetry” will be held Tuesday evenings October 20 – November 10, 7-9 PM CIIS Main Building.   An all day intensive is offered Saturday, November 7, 10-5 .     www.ciis.edu   or phone 415-575-6175.

<> I’ve signed a contract with Monkfish Books for Married to Muhammad. The anticipated publishing date was April, 2010, but it has been scheduled into 2011, due to the sluggish economy.

<>The Sound Journal, formerly, “The Sound” is launched!    http://thesoundjournal.org/

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I’ve been teaching a week-long poetry class for more than 5 years at our Annual Sufi gathering in Mendocino. The aim is to encourage poets and writers to use contemporary language and the experience of the senses to tell the unique stories and observations we gather,  that are metaphors for our shared humanity in this time and place. Writing a poem takes concentration mixed with a kind of lazy disinterest – like fishing. And you need to land the phrase when you get that bite. Then there is the cleaning and cooking – all before that first lemon-drenched forkful of words passes between your teeth…

The poets who have helped me probe and celebrate the mysteries of the poem are, Naomi Shihab Nye, Fred Chappell, W.S. Merwin, Jane Hirshfield, Heather McHugh, Mark Doty, and Coleman Barks. These are poets I have sat with and questioned. My credentials are a strong love of words, and the willingness to communicate that in as many ways as I can imagine. Also Sarah Lawrence College, Stanford University, and San Francisco State University each gave me a push. .

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This blog is about saying the right phrases in Syria, having good fortune in India, mixing Mecca-Medina with Texarkana, demystifying some women who lived  at the beginning of the seventh century in Arabia and Abysssinia.  

If there is a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it. Toni Morrison

For almost a decade I have felt a growing mandate to demystify the women married to Muhammad. At this time, more than ever, we need to know about the cultural origins of our sisters on the other side of the globe. These untranslated women, who stood in the first light of Islam, have buried stories. Here are several: Khadija is a wealthy businesswoman who hires young Muhammad; Hafsa is saved from divorce by Angel Gabriel, Zaynab, a married first cousin, experiences a moment of passion with Muhammad, Umm Salama saves a vital peace treaty and Aisha tells of death of the Prophet. These are stories known in the Arab-speaking world. My book of poems and history is called Married to Muhammad: Untold History of the Prophet’s Wives. I am fortunate to have good resources: rudimentary Qu’ranic Arabic study; scholarly guidance, travel in the Middle East, and three decades as a seeker on the path of American Sufism.

The project was conceived after an inspired time with Moroccan Sufi women, sharing their bold, joyful gatherings. I began to research the Prophet’s wives, and was drawn into the historically based poem. I respectfully endeavor to glimpse and share the lives of these amazing and powerful women who witnessed Muhammad’s daily life at a time when “Islam” meant peaceful surrender of one’s heart to God. Now it has come full circle, as I stood on the stage in Marrakech July 11th of this year and read these poems to the people of Marrakech and Sufis from many lands. I am grateful.

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