The music of human flesh Book by Mahmoud Darwish

The translator Denys Johnson-Davies says in his 'The key to an understanding of his poetry is that it consists largely of an extended and desperate love affair with his lost homeland . . . Mahmoud Darwish, however, is not only a political poet, he is expressly a Marxist one. With the other revolutionary poets throughout the Arab world who today constitute the modern movement in poetry, he has called for the casting off of the outworn conventions of the classical tradition.He insists that modern poets rebel against the clichés, verbal and emotional, that have dogged Arabic writing during its long period of decadence.’Darwish’s power however is firstly in his poetry, and he is justifiably enjoys the sort of fame which in the West is accorded to popular singers. His readings are attended by thousands.However, as the selection shows, his poetry has gradually become more personal and oblique in his search for a solution to his own human dilemma.