The Ofi Press Magazine
International Poetry and Literature from Mexico City
Poems by Sayed Gouda (Egypt/Hong Kong)
Artwork by Mamdouh Kessifi (Egypt)
Published in The Ofi Press issue 46
PROPHET OF THE POETS Every letter i wrote in my notebook told me about a coming time, about lingering darkness, an approaching dawn, about rain becoming green wheat, paradise becoming homes for demons, about the suffering of the noble souls, unwilling to bow, unwilling to chew hypocrisy like immoral women, who sinfully chew lust. Yes, every letter i wrote in my notebook was not inspired by the jinni of my poetry. i am the poet of the prophets, and for poets, i am a truthful prophet. i fear you, my letters, inspired by God, i fear you. The shiver of revelation overwhelms me upon writing a letter, and the letter is an arrow that drops me every day many times. Have mercy on this heart of mine, in which the birds die and get resurrected every morning, fearing the lines that you write. O my pen— a messenger of God, and my pain! |
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| WAVE Every day at dawn, seagulls call me, i follow them. i tame the proud sea, and print on the lips of waves a star's kiss to the virgin darkness. i sleep on the carpet of waves like a prophet; i collect the universe in my eyes and become a blue wave. Every day at dawn, seagulls call me, i follow them. |
AT THE END OF THE NIGHT Maybe the one who came rushing at the end of the night to knock on our door, humble, begging for a piece of bread, a mouthful of water, and a woollen shawl to protect himself from the biting cold was a jinni, carrying in his pocket the spell of our coming curse. Maybe the one who came at the end of the night was like a windstorm, coming to warn us of birds that would carry us on wings we don’t see to a land, faraway, faraway, in which the present are absent, the absent are present, and the bemused cry at its door. Maybe the one who came at the end of the night was none other but him, coming to laugh at my pride, coming to announce that soon i would roam the streets alone, to knock on a stranger's door, begging for a piece of bread, a mouthful of water, and a woollen shawl on one of the winter's nights. Maybe the one who came to us -in spite of disguise- was me! |
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About the Poet
Sayed Gouda was born in Cairo and moved to Hong Kong in 1992 where he currently resides. He did his undergraduate studies in Egypt and China, majoring in Chinese, and received his PhD in comparative literary studies from the City University of Hong Kong in 2014. His research interests include comparative poetics, comparative literature, comparative cultural studies, and prosody studies. Gouda is a published poet, novelist, and translator. His works and translations have appeared in Arabic, English, Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Macedonian, Uzbek, Romanian, and Mongolian.He is the editor of a literary website called Nadwahthat features five languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, and German (www.arabicnadwah.com/index-english.htm). From 2004 to 2010, he organised a monthly literary salon in Hong Kong. He has also participated in many international poetry festivals and academic conferences around the world. In 1990, Gouda won first prize in poetry from the Faculty of Languages (al-Alsun), Ain Shams University. In addition, in 2012, he was awarded the Enchanting Poet Award by The Enchanting Verses Literary Review, and in 2014, an honorary prize for his poem ‘Night Train’ from Shijie huawen shibao 世界華文詩報 (Journal of Chinese World Poetry).