Sand opera / Philip Metres.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Metres, Philip, 1970- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political poetry, American.

Genre:

Poetry.

Physical Description:

103 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm

Other Title:

Standard operating procedure

Place of Publication:

Farmington, Maine : Alice James Books, [2015]

Summary:

"Sand Opera emerges from the dizzying position of being named but unheard as an Arab American, and out of the parallel sense of seeing Arabs named and silenced since 9/11. Polyvocal poems, arias, and redacted text speak for the unheard. Metres exposes our common humanity, while investigating the dehumanizing perils of war and its lasting effect on our culture"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Illumination of the martyrdom of St. Bartolomew. I. Abu ghraib arias. Blues of Lane McCotter ; (echo /ex/): "In the name of God ..." ; Searching the Koran (Standard Operating Procedure) ; (echo /ex/): "In the beginning ..." ; Blues of Javal Davis ; (echo /ex/): "next day ..." ; Public Address/Ghost Soldiers ; (echo /ex/): "his name is G ..." ; Blues of Charles Graner ; (echo /ex/): "On the third day ..." ; Handling the Koran (Standard Operating Procedure) ; (echo /ex/): "First the man ..." ; Document Exploitation (Standard Operating Procedure) ; (echo /ex/): "Now these are the generations ..." ; Blues of Lynddie England ; (echo /ex/): "me ..." ; Blues of Ken Davis ; (echo /ex/): "Now I am what I saw ..." ; MUSLIM BURIAL (Standard Operating Procedure) ; (echo /ex/): "And it came to pass ..." ; Blues of Joe Darby

(echo /ex/)

II. First recitative. Woman Mourning Son ; Recipe from the Abbasid ; Home Sweet Home ; Iraqi Curator's PowerPoint ; Black Site (Exhibit Q) ; Asymmetries ; Salaam Epigrams ; War Stories

III. Hung lyres. "The new theory : not to praise too much ..." ; "When the bombs fell, she could barely raise ..." ; "you mute you without openings ..." ; "Is the ear ..." ; "In the cell of else ..." ; "this is the air we script to lips ..." ; "I had no names to blazon their tender ..." ; "She asks, is that man crying ..." ; "What does it mean, I say"

IV. Second recitative. Breathing Together ; Testimony (after Daniel Heyman) ; When I Was a Child, I Lived as a Child, I Said to My Dad ; Black Site (Exhibit I) ; Love Potion #42 ; Saddam's Fingerprints ; Etruscan Cista Handle ; Black Site (Exhibit M) ; Toast (for Nawal Nasrallah) ; Cell/(ph)one (A simultaneity in four voices)

V. Homefront/removes. "I hear it, at times, even in the wind" ; "was taken was rapidly../" ; "What consequence is a body" ; "tried hanging myself ..." ; "I was planning my lesson on imagery ..." ; "taken to outside court ..." ; "In the wake of" ; "I suspended upside ..." ; "You look at me / looking at you" ; "so I could pass the time ... " ; "As if, somehow, I were responsible" ; <hover to see video> ; "On the flight overseas ..." ; "I did not know my ..."

Compline.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 101-103).

Arab American Book Award - Poetry, Honorable Mention, 2016

ISBN:

9781938584091

1938584090

OCLC:

879370638