Q: This question goes back to what you were talking about before, when you were talking about your writing. Who were you reading or listening to? What art did you look at? What painters or poets influenced you when you were younger?
EA: You see, as I moved a lot, inferences changed. I did not choose them. When I was 18 or 20, for example, poetry was for me the French Poets either of the 19th Century, or of the Resistance poets, like Aragon*, Aguilar, then I read Mayakovsky*, and the translation of the Russian poets. So, political poetry was natural to me. That was the poetry that I read at a crucial age, and when I came to the United States I learned and then I taught philosophy.
And then during the Vietnam War the American poets against the war were the first American poets that I read, because I didn't go to a literary school here. And, later I discovered others. Now in painting, it is the same. They did not have Contemporary painting in Lebanon when I grew up. I was may be 16 when I first made one. We had calligraphic reproductions some times on the wall, and music. My father loved Arabic music, Ottoman music, Taqasim, and my mother had Greek songs. So when I was about 20 I discovered classical music. In America, I love Jazz music. Jazz music has been my favorite music for years. It still is. It is great. It is also close to Arabic music of Africa and North Africa because it is improvisation, like the taqasim. Jazz music pieces can be three minutes, but, it can be half an hour, according to the audience. In painting, of course, I loved Picasso the artist. He has such a power. Then I studied philosophy of arts. I taught philosophy of art. So, I had to use paintings in classes, as slides, to explain things. So, I came as a painter coming into art through the philosophy of art and not through the art department.
Q: You talked about political poetry and poetry of resistance, are you familiar with the Arabic resistance poetry, or Adab al-Muqawamah, in the 20th Century? Also, I read in an interview that was done with you by al-Jadid magazine in 1998, that you stand for the Arab's self-empowerment, and that you are for the Arab who resists and triumphs although we have all of these regimes. I am talking about poets like Ahmad Fuad Najm, Amal Dunqul*, Muzaffar al-Nawwab*, and many others, did they play any role in your awareness, or to your identity as a poet?
EA: Yes, you see as you said about resistance, some of the Arabs, because there is such a negative image in the press, they end up believing it. It is good to criticize oneself, but we don't need to destroy ourselves. We are not nobodies. We are not cowards. It is the only world that is still resisting. So this is also admirable, we should not only see our shortcomings. The Arab Poets who had an influence on me, in the early sixties I read, I do read Arabic, very imperfectly but I do read, and I read Badr Shakir al-Sayyab* that is the first poet that I got in contact with. Then I became a friend of Yusef Gall, he's the first man in1964, when I was in Beirut visiting in the summer, he said you should send me poetry and he had it translated in his magazine Shi'r, because its really Yusef who founded the magazine Shi'r. Nazek al-Mala'ika was the first person who opened up free verse* and then Badr Shaker al-Sayyab and then Yusef himself and then Adonis.
Q: And Louis Awad?
EA: And then Louis Awad. Another poet that I like is Sargon Boulus, he is a very important Arab poet, his Arabic is good and still it is very contemporary, you don't need to water down Arabic, to cheapen it in order to make it modern, this is nonsense. He writes good Arabic and still the feeling is very contemporary. For influences I would say Badr Shaker al-Sayyab because he has a sense of rhythm and he mixes the past and the present in a very existential way you see, and even in religion when he said he was like Christ crucified in Jaykur.
Q: What about the poetry of those who came later in the 1960's and 1970's, like Ahmad Fuad Najm and al-Sheikh Imam?
EA: Sheikh Imam is one of the great men of the 20th Century. I like Sheikh Imam who sings poetry in the tradition of the poets of Latin America who mix poetry with politics. There is this trend in America to think that politics should not be part of poetry. This is ridiculous. The Iliad talks about wars and history. It is not only what you say, but it’s the way you say it. Mahmud Darwish, is a great poet I think. I like his poetry, which is a part from Resistance Poetry.
Q: How about al-Nawwab?
EA: He is being put to song isn't he? Shehrazad Qasem worked on him.
Q: In your book you dedicated it to the memory of Khalil Hawi and you are talking about resistance, Khalil Hawi committed suicide in 1982 to protest the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, but do you think that was a romantic response on his part? And he was signed throughout your work?
EA: You know Khalil Hawi committed suicide when the Israelis came in but it is not romantic you know in the Western Tradition people like Paul Segal or Sylvia Plath. Or even people like Mayakovsky did that. It could be because of political reason or because they were highly disturbed in their own lives. I am not saying that suicide is good, but we have to honor the poets who stand as the supreme resistance and they couldn’t take it.
Q: Like Kamal Naser?
EA: Yes, like Kamal Naser who was assassinated for his poetry, and Ghassan Kanafani. They have been assassinated because people knew the power of writing, the power of speaking for their nation. Nation, here is not in the sense of boundaries, but in terms of civilization. And I thought Khalil Hawi should be remembered as a man who had a dream of Arab unity and of resistance and it reached a point where he just couldn't take it.
