ʿUrwah fī Qamīṣ al-Suʾāl (A Buttonhole in the Shirt of the Question) is a powerful poetry collection by Syrian poet and journalist Faraj Birkidār, published in 2022 by Sameh Publishing. Spanning 128 pages, the book gathers poems written over ...
ʿUrwah fī Qamīṣ al-Suʾāl (A Buttonhole in the Shirt of the Question) is a powerful poetry collection by Syrian poet and journalist Faraj Birkidār, published in 2022 by Sameh Publishing. Spanning 128 pages, the book gathers poems written over twenty years, reflecting a life shaped by exile, imprisonment, and resistance.
The collection resonates with:
Contrasts of pain and hope, war and beauty, despair and love
Evocations of Damascus, Homs, Baghdad, and Beirut, as well as the Mediterranean Sea, which becomes a metaphor for both escape and peril
A poetic style that blends classical Arabic meters with free verse, often leaning toward tafʿīlah
Nature as a dramatic stage—mountains, valleys, forests, and birds—mirroring the poet’s emotional and political landscape
Birkidār, a native of Ḥimṣ, was imprisoned for 14 years in Syria for his political activism. His poetry carries the weight of that experience, yet remains defiantly lyrical, embracing love, forgiveness, and the possibility of beauty amid ruins.
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