MSI Press Blog

  excerpt from  Damascus amid the War  (M. Imady) --     Pre-war Poems 11-20 11. Mending With gold and silver threads, my dreams I mend. Patch up the grey thoughts, then embellish them with bright hopes. ***        12.  The Field of Hope In the field of my mind, I weeded out the fears, sowed seeds of hope, then watered them with tears of joy. ***   13.  The Mask The sad look faded out. The pale mask shriveled and shrunk. Then, suddenly, it dropped. Undisguised, fingers danced upon the bare flesh with grace. Lips twisted and curled. Then, cautiously, drew a happy face! ***   14. The Shadow A laugh! A carefree laugh rang in my ear. Arms excitedly flapped in the air. Feet danced – lively – down the street. Gazing at the reflected figure -on the pavement – to my surprise I realized it was me! *** 15.  How How hard must I try to break through the iron bars? How far must I go To reach a silver star? How mad s...

  excerpt from  Damascus amid the War  (M. Imady) --     Pre-war Poems 1-10 1. Spring Cleaning                                           Secretly,                                           I tiptoed into                                           The dark chambers              ...

  Today's fortune cookie is associated with Damascus amid the War by Mona Imady . For more posts about this book and its author, click  HERE . For more posts about the Middle East, click HERE                                    This book is on discounted sale at the  MSI Press webstore . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com.  Want to comm...

  excerpt from Damascus amid the War (M. Imady) --              Commentary   In Muna Imady’s writing we witness a kind of devolution from poetry that was filled with vivid imagery and striking metaphors to that which was made to carry words of the brutality of war. Stripped of Muna’s imaginative, powerful, evocative language, her poetry becomes savagely direct, honest to the point of shocking readers with its transformation.   The world of Muna’s early poetry has become broken, brutalized, burned, and bombed. With it, Muna’s heart is broken; her imagination has been filled with what is dark and laden with grief. The simplicity of most of the war poems, when compared with those of her pre-war output give readers a stark reminder of the effects of war in ways that the news cannot. War breaks people and it transforms artistry into something it was never meant to be, painting a picture in words of the way the human spirit can be crushed, th...

  \ Excerpt from Damascus amid the War Ramadan Ramadan this year passes With no colorful lanterns Lighting up the holy nights in Cairo, No ziker 7 breaking the silence of The sacred Damascene nights. Baghdad stores are closed, Streets of Tripoli are empty, Gaza is under attack, Iraq is in flames. The World takes a nap While the Arabs Argue over who should have won The World Cup matches.                                                             7.20.2014 ***   No water, no electricity, no coffee!   So I decide to wander around the city.   As I pass our neighbor’s door, I hear the wind whistle through the key hole.   The door rattles as i...