ZaatarDiva [Paperback]

Suheir Hammad (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2006

ZaatarDiva is poetry about love, politics and Brooklyn, all coming out of Hammad's bag of zaatar. The poems in this collection are at once seductive and dangerous; they are possessed by a singular lyricism and awareness, and her call to action has a major presence in her work.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Brooklynite Hammad may be the first Palestinian-American to make it big in the spoken-word, or performance poetry, scene: she took part in Russell Simmons's Tony Award–winning Def Poetry Jam and has read on (among other venues) National Public Radio. Her first collection is also the first book from the Cypher imprint, edited by spoken-word elder statesman Willie Perdomo. Inspired both by her links to the Arab world and by the styles and stances of such earlier poet-performers as Nikki Giovanni, Hammad celebrates and defends her heritage ("i want to be open and hide/ the children of Palestine within me") and can be equally passionate about daily life in her home borough: "if you can make it here/ you got nothing to fear," the poem called "brooklyn" says. With the book comes a CD of Hammad in energetic performance, including a brief interview with the poet's father (subject of her poem "daddy's song") and, apparently, a bag of the Mideastern spice zataar. Leading off the CD is one of Hammad's best poems, the ironic "mic check," whose title refers to sound equipment and to an airport search performed by a hapless guy named Mike. (Jan.)
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Review

For the elegantly beautiful Suheir Hammad, a Palestinian from Brooklyn with formidable lyrical gifts and a distaste for always being seen as the exotic, lovemaking is continually disrupted by flashing thoughts of the traumatic events and brutality unfolding around the globe. --Chicago Sun Times

Suheir Hammad knows the sight and smell of war first hand as she recites "Daddy's Song." Her physical beauty and gracefulness pulls you into her quiet storm as it rips your mind open to the stew she's brewing. Her thoughts are poetic, but her message is beyond real. --San Francisco Bay View

ZaatarDiva summons through moments of lyrical insight and urbane wit, again and again, and before we know what has happened, we are hooked. Here's a poetry that urges a wholeness - a crossing of borders - as the personal is woven into the public, whereby a 'prodigal daughter' possesses her own knowing voice. Each poem in ZaatarDiva is heart-driven by the urgent, raw orality of need. And, there is a glistening barb in each turn of phrase - a lure of quicksilver accuracy. --Yusef Komunyakaa --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 102 pages
• Publisher: Rattapallax Press (February 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892494671
• ISBN-13: 978-1892494672
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,002,930 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure and Beautiful Revolution, March 29, 2006

By 

matt horton (washington, dc) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ZaatarDiva (Paperback)

"Having traveled the world via her poetry, Brooklyn-raised and Tony-Award winning poet Suheir Hammad has published the long-awaited follow-up to her 1996 collections, Born Palestinian, Born Black and Drops of This Story (Harlem River Press). In the minimalist ZaatarDiva, a deeply spiritual and maternal Hammad wastes not a single word in tightly wrapped flower bud poems that blossom in the reader's mind, where her words give voice to unconscious thought. With roots as a spoken-word poet, Hammad's use of popular language to de-scribe and connect complex subjects and express the intimate can only be described as genius. Strong in her weakness, her raw intimacy defeats armies. The endless love that provides the backbone for Hammad's work transcends and eclipses simple politics to pure and beautiful revolution."
--From the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, April 2006 Issue.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Power Beyond Poetry, February 25, 2008

By 

Andrew Mccarthy "Alter Arts" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: ZaatarDiva (Paperback)

What a great decision I made when I bought a dozen copies of this book when it first came out, since it's first edition sold out not long after it was released. I have given them all away, and find I still want more copies to share. The deep political and philosophical understandings of the ever-talented Ms. Hammad, woven beautifully together into these passionate poems, motivate the reader to no end. Her compassion and insight are matched with her gift for lyric, in style that is fondly at home with the griots Nikki Giovanni, Audre Lorde, Helene Cixcous, Sapphire, Gil Scott-Heron, Nawal el Sdadawi, Michael Franti, Dead Prez, and anyone who has suffered long enough to know the difference between living and fighting to live.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jumping the gun, but with good reason., March 27, 2007

By 

K. E. Woolfork "wolfprime" (Camp Red Cloud, Uijeongbu, S. Korea) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: ZaatarDiva (Paperback)

As per the title you can probably tell I haven't yet read ZataarDiva. My only experience with Suheir Hammad is from the inspirational HBO series Def Poetry.

I know Suheir's voice. It commands me to listen. Never mind owning the stage, she owns the whole damn building. Powerful, beautiful, emotional and moving are words that, to me, describe both Ms. Hammad AND her poetry. She's so talented she makes me want to not only write more, but write better.

This book cannot get here soon enough.

k.