Trying Again to Stop Time

Jalal Barzanji is a highly respected Kurdish poet and journalist. He has published seven books of poetry and numerous critical columns. After his two-year imprisonment by Saddam Hussein’s regime in the late 1980s and further political repression into the 1990s, Barzanji and his family fled to Turkey. They remained there for eleven months, eventually immigrating to Canada. Sabah A. Salih is Professor of English at Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania.

• ix ForewordSabah A. Salihxiii PrefaceTrying Again to Stop Time (2009)2 Trying Again to Stop Time4 A Soulful Sunshine6 Beauty’s Fault8 Smart Poems I11 Winter Is the Season of Grief15 Home in a Suitcase18 The Pocket20 I Didn’t Want to Leave Alone22 Returning to AutumnI Want To Be Named Home (2007)24 To Go Back and Back34 Beyond the Sky Is a Blue Window36 A Woman Befriends Darkness37 To Be Free and Lonely39 Even Autumn Had No RoomIn Memory of a Person Swept By the Wind (2006)42 In Memory of a Person Swept By the Wind43 A Terrible Morning44 Too Late for Watching the Sunset45 The Last Refuge49 Smart Poems IIThe Rain of Compassion (2002)52 War53 Hello Exile55 Life Coming to an End56 Nature’s Playground57 The Fallen Doves58 The Rain of Compassion60 Untitled61 The Sun Ignores My BoatNo Warmth (1985)68 Keeping to Oneself69 Midlife70 My Heart and Water71 Shouting at the World72 The End of Conflicts73 An Old Desire74 The Shade’s Wound75 Water’s Limitation76 Before Leaving77 The Most Depressing Time78 The Wind of Exile79 Winter’s Response80 Burial81 A Lonely Flower82 The Shrine83 To Be Naked Again84 After the Storm85 His Soul Returned to Us86 The Anthem of DepartureThe Evening Snow Dance (1979)88 A View89 An Accident90 That Evening91 The Immortal Lorca92 A Poet and a Suitcase93 The Lantern94 No Return95 A Legend96 Returning97 A New Cloud98 Always Anxious99 Our Breakup100 The Shade101 To Be Surrounded102 To Love104 A Visit105 Having No Need for Fire106 The Evening Snow Dance107 The Meadow108 The Fish Eagle109 The Dance of the Waves110 That Tree111 Your Heart112 Any Time You Come113 The Death of a Poet114 The Kindness of Trees115 Separation116 A Layer of Dust117 Falling in LoveNew Poems (2012–)120 Where Am I?121 The Shadow of a Wall123 Together, Alone125 Glossary127 Acknowledgements

"...it will be easy for readers to connect with Barzanji's writing, because his words seep with humanity's universal emotions and occurrences."