This week, the podcast widens its focus and steps beyond our boundaries for a moment to acknowledge the civil war in Syria through the Arabic writings of Golan Haji, translated by Stephen Watts.

Haji is originally from the Kurdish town of Amouda, on the border of Turkey. The excerpted essay was written five and a half years ago, when the Syrian war was well into its second year.

Text:
“A Note on Syrian Poetry” & “Autumn here is magical and vast,” Golan Haji, translated by Stephen Watts. Words Without Borders.

“A Tree Whose Name I don’t Know,” by Golan Haji, translated by Stephen Watts. A Midsummer Night’s Press, 2017.