Don't Muzzle the Ghazal

December Update

Even though it's still November — Thanksgiving in the Ozarks, good smells from the kitchen, the grandkids' puppy playing with frozen leaves in the backyard — even though it's November for eight more days, I am thinking about, planning for, December.

In the last post, I announced the poets that will be in the December issue. Add to their number, Conrad Geller. Four poets — Bill Batcher, Conrad Geller, Steffen Horstmann, Cathryn Shea — and seven ghazals.

An while you're reading, let me remind you of the "clouds and rain" radif challenge. I do have some entries, with more promised, but suprise me, okay?

Thanksgiving morning, the household awakens to wind and snow;
My grandchildren's puppy dances with leaves in wind and snow.

An isolated ghazal couplet ("sher") is called a fard, at least regarding Ghalib's poetry. The link goes to my 2004 Ghazal Blog, where "fard" is briefly defined. (I wouldn't stand by the main proposal in that post, by the way.)

December Descending

I almost wrote "December rising," to play on a familiar phrase, but then, December doesn't rise, at least until the solstice, when Light begins to press Dark's hand back to the tabletop in their eternal arm-wrestling bout, never a conclusion until the sun goes out or the planet stops spinning.

Now that I spit that, I want to tell you that the December issue of The Ghazal Page is shaping up. It will have silk wraps, dust, bread, and teeth, all in ghazals by Bill Batcher, Steffen Horstmann, and Cathryn Shea. Bill and Steffen have appeared in TGP before; Cathy is a welcome newcomer.

My postings here have become irregular. I hope to remedy that without falling (any further!) into banality. I will put up a note about each issue as I am preparing it; perhaps even more than one note.

There's another topic on the way, as well, by the end of the week, I hope. December is imminent, but we denizens of the USA have a holiday to deal with first. Family drama at its finest, its worst, most boring, most delightful. I'm looking forward to some snow. A big woop! woop! for December and the solstice to come.

From Arabic to Persian to German to English

One thing that has been missing in the discussion of the ghazal in English is a clear, objective account of its history. Now, on a small scale, David Jalajel has supplied that history. His account is relatively brief but satisfyingly detailed, answering many questions and, inevitably, raising others. His "short history" is well-sourced, with a bibliography that provides entry points even for those of us who are monoglot in English.

One question that I've found an answer to in David's essay: Is the ghazal defined more as a form (genre) or as a theme?

In its origins in Arabian poetry, the ghazal was formally the same as other Arabian poems and characterized by the theme of "dalliance." Ghazal is variously defined as talking, or flirting, with women, or as longing, and came thematically to be the expression of romantic, erotic, or mystic longing.

Read a few of the poems on The Ghazal Page and you'll soon see a much wider variety of themes. The discussion--not to say, controversy--about the ghazal's entry into English poetry has focused on form, a topic that David covers very well in the last part of his short history. Having the privilege of publishing this essay, I naturally endorse it. I hope that you will read it and discover your own response.

Please take some time to read the half-dozen new ghazals in the November issue of The Ghazal Page; and don't forget the "clouds and rain" radif challenge.