2 out of 4 stars
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Bleeding Gull: Look, Feel, Fly, is a collection of poems written by poet and human rights activist Raed Anis Al-Jishi. The poems are thought-provoking and are written with descriptive imagery and powerful emotion. Al-Jishi tackles intimate topics and hearty subjects, and obviously is passionate about his writing. Even though appreciative of the author’s artistic expression & sensitive to his personal experiences, as a whole, the work did not resonate with me.
Just as I’m a music lover but not every song appeals to me, my love of poetry as a genre doesn’t mean that I’m predisposed to feel a connection with every poem. Such is the case with the Bleeding Gull collection. Most of the poems left me feeling somewhat perplexed. However, there were individual poems, and specific stanzas, that I found engaging and poignant. In “Prisoner”, there’s the wonderfully crafted phrase “iron cage of emotions and a jail of ironic memories”’; in “Sinners”, we read “chaos lives inside of us”; in “Gray”, there’s the powerfully composed line “asking her colored shadow what would happen if we change places”. “Hero” was gut-wrenching and moving, and stirred feelings of intense empathy, and was my favorite of the collection. “Broken But Not Done” is a universal theme, eloquently written with prose that surely reverberates with all of us.
But, unfortunately, I had trouble connecting with a large number of the 100 poems due to my unfamiliarity with what are cultural terms and references. While I could get a general idea of some terms due to context, even after re-reading lines several times over, I still struggled with meanings and the overall objective. Mentions of wadis, Darwich, early civilization references to Ishtar, Inanana, and Dilmun, and Imam Hussain, are just a few examples that made it challenging. “Fatimah” was lovely and beautifully written but I had to research what role Fatimah played in Islam to gain a full understanding. “Imazigh” is thick with ancient Islamic history references that made this poem difficult to enjoy.
My rating is 2 out of 4 stars. The 2-star rating depicts my position of being “on the fence” where other readers are concerned. Just because my understanding of the poems is not complete, poetry is such a personal & intimate expression, and an extremely subjective discipline. I do think this work has artistic merit, and it is a quick read. Al-Jishi appears to be a writer who desires to impact others and invoke intense feelings. Reading this collection of poetry did peak my interest in learning more about the author. Out of 100 poems, though, there were only 7-8 poems that I truly liked, and wading through the cultural contrasts of the majority of the poems hampered my enjoyment and ability to identify.
While there are reoccurring concepts throughout the collection, there is no overarching theme that encompasses the work. This makes for a challenging experience in one continuous read, but does make it easy to pick up the book at any point and read individual poems. Although this would not make it onto my favorites list, I feel that anytime a writer expresses themselves and writes from the heart, there is definitely worth.
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Bleeding Gull - look, feel, fly
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