Wednesday, December 18, 2024

From New Yorker--Erasure of Islam from Rumi's Poetry--

https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-erasure-of-islam-from-the-poetry-of-rumi#:~:text=He%20is%20typically%20referred%20to%20as%20a,is%20less%20frequently%20described%20as%20a%20Muslim. This seems to blame the translater, Coleman Barks.
But I don't read Farsi so how would I know Rumi/ except in Engish
Barks' translations are beautiful
Nor does WS Merwin read Eskimo
Nor Sanskrit
But he's translated both
ko ko thett would call it myanmar hmuu pyu
Burmanized
like changing one's clothes? Hair? Hygeine
practices?
People place too much weight on religion
Before religion and
nineteenth century
nations
we were homo sapiens and
had a shared ancestor, apes and mice
I'm getting tired.
There was this model couple I thought
Of very upper middle class birth
who would be my model Muslim-Buddhist couple/in a new novel
he was Buddhist though Indo-Burman
she said she was Sufi
Ko Chit Suu (changed name) said
You know Sufi and Rumi--don't you Aunty?
I said Yes, I do
I always thought
Sufi is very close to Buddhism.
She said stiffly
Since I've never been a Buddhist
I don't know
Fast forward 2 years.
They broke apart--after all that
She was locked in her room, by her father and her uncle
They called The Taliban--for ten years, and more to come--
But it doesn't fit here so--next post.
Kyi May Kaung
12-18-2024

Who is Kali?

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kali