Rahat Kurd

@rahat

reader writer editor / / THE BOOK OF Z: / ahl-e-zubaan / she/they / free palestine

107 Folgt383 Follower297 Posts

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Rahat Kurd@rahat· Jul 9

All the fabulous prize-contender titles are ON SALE including THE BOOK OF Z at Talonbooks for the month of July!

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Apr 16

The Berger Chart is up at Verso! It's like playing bingo or "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" or collecting Pokemon cards, but so much better, because it's for grownup Berger nerds and devotees. @versobooks.bsky.social

A rectangular graph with horizontal coloured bars that lists all of the books by the late art critic, political thinker, and novelist John Berger, currently published by Verso Books, organized by colour according to what kinds of readers might be drawn to each one (Fans of Ways of Seeing (beige), activists (red), readers interested in Palestinian liberation and fighting imperialism (deep green), readers of fiction (navy blue), and "John Berger deep cuts" (spring green).

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Sep 10

I've only ever had this bitter bile collect in my throat before waking on days when I've had to get ready to leave #Kashmir

Photograph of a tiny lone figure sitting in a small wooden rowboat, called a shikara, in silhouette against a brilliant golden sunset on Dal Lake, Srinagar, Kashmir, under heavy grey clouds.

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Sep 6

Here's a pink heart inscribed with the word "Dosti" = "Friendship" in Urdu script. Be a friend for Gaza, where Zena needs milk and food. Keep sharing and keep protesting. #CeasefireNOW #DisarmIsFake #StopArmingIsFake #FeedGazaNOW

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Sep 5

The Book of Z is a persona poem, written in the imagined voice of a contemporary Zulaykha.

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Aug 19

I went to see filmmaker Rehab Nazzal’s photography/multimedia art exhibit called DRIVING IN PALESTINE at the Vines, a local Vancouver gallery. Please keep sharing, giving, protesting. #FeedGazaNow

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Aug 18

My love of Islamic art! What to say about this 16th C Safavid era Herati painting, "Farhad carves a milk channel for Shirin", except: lucky, lucky, Shirin. Her springtime yellow dress; that prancing, lovely horse. Every kid should have the chance to learn how to ride horseback. #FeedGazaNOW

Detail from a 16th century Persian miniature painting based on the Khamsa of Nizami called "Farhad carves a milk channel for Shirin". Shirin wears a yellow dress and blue robe on the back of an elegant chestnut horse against a stony blue-grey backdrop. Painting on display at the Met Museum in New York City.

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Aug 18

So, I am an avid follower of/ learner about Islamic art. I have been able to maintain and develop this interest because my parents were able to house, feed, clothe, and educate me. No aerial bombardment, starvation siege, or other state terror. You know the feeling? Pay it forward. #FeedGazaNow

Carved eight-pointed star with scrolling vine and turquoise detail, wall tile made of plaster and partially glazed in Iran, early 13th century (which we call the 1200s CE or AD, the Common Era, or Anno Domino, or the Christian calendar). At the Met, in New York City.

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Aug 9

Here’s a cheerful text message from my editor yesterday afternoon + front cover of THE BOOK OF Z, my forthcoming work of poetry with Talonbooks @talonbooks.bsky.social

Black sans serif type on grey text box “Your book has gone to press!!” with a pink heart emoji on a blue thought bubble in the upper right corner

Black book cover with simple text “The book of Z” in blue type along the top; a large bright gold letter Z covering most of the page, and author name “Rahat Kurd” in blue type at the bottom.

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Jul 1

Taking slow deep breaths with this image from #PinkQuran today. For everyone who is triggered by renewed violent bigotry and expressions of harm by white supremacists against Muslims.

A page of pink paper showing five lines of Arabic script from the Quran, handwritten in a north African or Andalusi script from the 12th or 13th century in dark brown ink decorated with gold medallions and royal blue (lapis lazuli) diacritics, or accent marks.

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Jun 14

Reading #UrduPoetry with some ahl-e-zubaan is a nerdy labour of love. No fāl is involved in the choice of ghazal; Mir Taqi Mir wrote it late 18th c. Poetry makes nothing happen. But to read this she'r today is to receive a small gift from the universe.

Four lines of handwritten Urdu text in deep pink ink on white paper. The poem is a couplet (two lines) broken up to better fit the space.

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Jun 5

Failing at social media, on the daily

Head & shoulders photo of author Rahat Kurd seated outdoors, wearing a red top, against the backdrop of a café window reflecting café chairs and tables.

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Mar 11

In more Spring Forward (Diem Horribilis) news, I…have managed…to complete my copy edits

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Feb 24

On March 15th, I'll be talking about #ghazal poetics in a free reading/discussion group at Centre A in Vancouver. For details, register by March 7th here centrea.org/programs-events/

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Feb 14

Any #ghazal aficionados in this Butterfly app house? Toronto-based poet & translator Khashayar Mohammadi dedicated this one to me, published by EVENT Magazine in the fall

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Feb 6

Naomi Shihab Nye, excerpt from her poem, “Passing the Refugee Camp” (2002) From the book, 19 Varieties of Gazelle

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Jan 27

Call for poetry submissions (right here in my comments) prompted by the awkward, enervating limbo between a mandatory 11 am checkout time and a 3:35 pm ferry departure on a winter afternoon

Photo of a waiting room at a Gulf Island ferry terminal. A snack vending machine, a row of brown vinyl-covered metal seats under fluorescent lights, a row of windows, and a sign on a door reading TICKETED PASSENGERS ONLY.

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Jan 16

May we earn the right to feel hope today by staying steadfast. Nothing less than freedom and justice for all of Palestine. No bombs, no land theft, no apartheid, no walls.

Silhouette of bare tree branches against a backdrop of pink clouds and blue sky at sunset, with apartment buildings partially visible in the bottom left and right corners

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Dec 17

From a poem by Sharon Olds, quoted in an essay in #Poetry magazine, June 2023 🕷️🫙🪟

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Dec 17

From WEATHER by Jenny Ofill, which I read in 2023. 🕷️ 🐝

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Dec 16

Opening passage from A IS FOR ACHOLI by Otoniya J. Okot Bitek, reminds me of when we lived in the same YVR neighbourhood & our kids (my one; her two; biggish age gap) overlapped at École Bilingue for a year. Two struggling writer moms. Those were my years of frayed edges & forgotten Tuesdays.

Black English-language text on white paper. Title centred in bold: “An alphabet for the unsettled”. Paragraph:

these days like loose threads like untied laces like frayed edges like tenuous connection days like remembrances days like bits we can only access if we're to survive days that are untenable palpable days pulsating through that prominent vein on your temple days like memories you can't hold onto like last tuesday which means nothing at all except that there was a tuesday last week

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Dec 6

I finally had bookshelves installed in my living room this week, after too much overthinking and anxious delay. I love their open airiness and lightness. Another joyful thing — to have dedicated shelves for poetry.

A set of white bookshelves against a white wall on a hardwood floor. Some of shelves have books on them.

Covers of six books facing up on a white bookshelf: four poetry titles, one book of prose, and one art book on Islamic geometric patterns.

Books of poetry stacked upright on a white shelf and two resting flat/facing up. ARIEL by Sylvia Plath, 19 VARIETIES OF GAZELLE by Naomi Shihab Nye, and CURRENT, CLIMATE by Rita Wong are the visible book covers.

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Nov 30

I was in some indefinable mood. I made this.

Text in bright ink colours: Philo-Semite for a Free Palestine, decorated with an olive branch on the left and orange blossoms on the right.

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Nov 20

And last night at a BOYCOTT GILLER solidarity event I read aloud from “Down the Market”, a short story about settler violence written by Selma Dabbagh, published in 2007 in NW15: The Anthology of New Writing (Granta)

Printed black and white text. First page of a short story called “Down the Market” by Selma Dabbagh.

Bright red book cover, paperback, title in white, black, and blue letters: NW15 The anthology of New Writing Volume 15, Edited by Bernardine Evaristo and Maggie Gee, decorated with small white birds and blue and orange foliage

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Nov 20

I wrote a review of Raja Shehadeh’s PALESTINIAN WALKS for rabble, a Canadian news site, in 2009

Book cover with image of a valley, trees, and old houses made of stone in the foothills, with author name RAJA SHEHADEH and title PALESTINIAN WALKS: FORAYS INTO A VANISHING LANDSCAPE

Rahat Kurd@rahat· Nov 28

"MARRIED TO ENGLISH" is a poem from my 2015 book, COSMOPHILIA, published online at the Talonbooks blog. Thought I'd share for my first post. PHOTOS: Three screencaps of the full text of a poem called "Married to English" by Rahat Kurd in black sans serif type on a white background.