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Fady Joudah

Fady Joudah was born in Austin, Texas in 1971, the second of five children. He is the son of Palestinian refugees. His father taught history at the University of Texas, then accepted teaching positions in Libya and Saudi

Tell Life

by Fady Joudah (b. 1971)

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3  <person id="48730" sex="1" role="author">
4    <name>
5      <firstname>Fady</firstname>
6      <lastname>Joudah</lastname>
7    </name>
8    <life-events>
9      <text-value>(b. 1971)</text-value>
10    </life-events>
11    <biography>y</biography>
12  </person>
13</author>
14

For Ghassan Zaqtan

I now release from my blood the bird of thirty she wasted

that’s how wars crumble us

I now tell those who are exhausted from the expense

of children the secret of happiness and happiness itself

from what is arrived at but doesn’t come

from the language of balance

defeat has the taste

Click here for complete poem

Poets Book of Days

April 18

Ezra Pound was released from St. Elizabeth's Mental Hospital after 12 years of confinement on this day in 1958.

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Poetry Trivia

Question:

What poet's epitaph reads, "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, / And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, / Await alike the inevitable hour: / The paths of glory lead but to the grave"?

Answer

Thomas Gray. The lines come from Gray's most famous poem, "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard."

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