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Barely There: Short Poems
The flashy poets and the poets with a schtick get the big audience, but it is the quiet poets whose individual poems more often linger with me. I'd trade all of Ginsberg, say, for William Bronk's six-line poem "After Bach" which derives from the cello suites the lesson that sadness "can be in part /to accept the absence of One to say it to" And it is Bronk whose work is called to mind for me by Yahia Lababidi's Barely There, in which "in embracing, we let go"' - H. L. Hix, Author of First Fire, Then Birds
- GenresPoetry
86 pages, Paperback
First published August 23, 2013
5 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
Yahia Lababidi
20Ìýbooks102ÌýfollowersYahia Lababidi, Arab-American of Palestinian background, is the author of 12 critically-acclaimed books of aphorisms, essays, poetry and conversations.ÌýLababidi's latest is WHAT REMAINS TO BE SAID (Wild Goose Publications, 2025) New & Selected Aphorisms of his written over the past three decades (1993-2024).
In this career-spanning collection, Lababidi combines Eastern mysticism, Western philosophy and his Arab heritage to explore life’s fundamental questions: love, spirituality, suffering and self-discovery. Lababidi’s aphorisms are at once philosophical and poetic, serving as beacons of truth in our fast-paced, digital age.
In a time of genocide and world conflict, soundbites, and social media noise, "What Remains..." provides a much-needed space for contemplation, offering both wisdom and solace to all who seek them.
Previously, Lababidi published Palestine Wail (Daraja Press, 2024) a love letter to Gaza, composed during the Genocide and endorsed by beloved Palestinian-American poet, Naomi Shihab Nye, who wrote:
“So many of us are wailing with Yahia Lababidi, who is not afraid to call out truth in the midst of catastrophe, to question heartless power, to embrace so-called conundrums and ‘others� who didn’t have to be, to grieve for the children who didn’t deserve any of this nightmare, and to offer revelations."
In addition to receiving favorable reviews in the press, internationally, poetry from Palestine Wail has been twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize and translated into Arabic, French, Malayalam, Gaeilge, Spanish as well as Dutch by the Poet Laureate of the Netherlands, Babs Gons.
Lababidi's poems for Palestine have, also, been read in literary festivals in the UK, Canada, Scotland, Holland, in classrooms and peaceful protests in the US, as well as widely shared, online.
As part of the annual global publishing event, #ReadPalestineWeek, in just one week 3,351 e-copies of Lababidi's Palestine Wail were downloaded, directly, from his publisher, Daraja Press
Among the other 13 books of poetry and prose by Lababidi was Quarantine Notes (Fomite Press, 2023) short meditations to heal and inspire that he composed during our global pandemic.
Prior to that, Lababidi published Desert Songs (Rowayat, 2022), Learning to Pray: a Book of Longing (Kelsay Books, 2021) as well as Revolutions of the Heart (Wipf & Stock, 2020) a genre-bending collection of essays & conversations.
He is, also, the author of 2 critically-acclaimed books of aphorisms: Signposts to Elsewhere (2019) and Where Epics Fail (2018).
Featured on PBS NewsHour, Lababidi's short meditations were generously endorsed by President Barack Obama's inaugural poet, Richard Blanco, who wrote: "Aphorisms are an ancient form, but its current-day master is Yahia Lababidi." Signposts was selected as a Book of the Year by The Independent (UK) and issued by Hay House, publishers of Deepak Chopra, Dr. Wayne Dyer and Marianne Williamson.
Lababidi, Egyptian-American thinker/poet, and author of 5 other well-received books of poetry and prose, has been invited to speak at Oxford University and NPR as well as being featured in Best American Poetry, World Literature Today, On Being with Krista Tippett, The Guardian and Al Jazeera, among several other esteemed cultural outlets.
Lababidi's BALANCING ACTS: New & Selected Poems (1993-2015), published by Press 53, is a celebration of more than twenty years of his poetry. According to Chard deNiord, Poet Laureate of Vermont, it 'resonates in plain-spoken yet dazzling poetry--sometimes epigrammatic, sometimes expansive--that betrays the eclectic transmissions of Lababidi's myriad influences, from Rumi to Kierkegaard, Dickinson to Kafka.'
Also by Lababidi is an eclectic collection of cultural essays, TRIAL BY INK: From Nietzsche to Belly Dancing as well as two poetry volumes, FEVER DREAMS and BARELY THERE, a collection of his shorter verse, much of which was inspired by the constraints of social
In this career-spanning collection, Lababidi combines Eastern mysticism, Western philosophy and his Arab heritage to explore life’s fundamental questions: love, spirituality, suffering and self-discovery. Lababidi’s aphorisms are at once philosophical and poetic, serving as beacons of truth in our fast-paced, digital age.
In a time of genocide and world conflict, soundbites, and social media noise, "What Remains..." provides a much-needed space for contemplation, offering both wisdom and solace to all who seek them.
Previously, Lababidi published Palestine Wail (Daraja Press, 2024) a love letter to Gaza, composed during the Genocide and endorsed by beloved Palestinian-American poet, Naomi Shihab Nye, who wrote:
“So many of us are wailing with Yahia Lababidi, who is not afraid to call out truth in the midst of catastrophe, to question heartless power, to embrace so-called conundrums and ‘others� who didn’t have to be, to grieve for the children who didn’t deserve any of this nightmare, and to offer revelations."
In addition to receiving favorable reviews in the press, internationally, poetry from Palestine Wail has been twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize and translated into Arabic, French, Malayalam, Gaeilge, Spanish as well as Dutch by the Poet Laureate of the Netherlands, Babs Gons.
Lababidi's poems for Palestine have, also, been read in literary festivals in the UK, Canada, Scotland, Holland, in classrooms and peaceful protests in the US, as well as widely shared, online.
As part of the annual global publishing event, #ReadPalestineWeek, in just one week 3,351 e-copies of Lababidi's Palestine Wail were downloaded, directly, from his publisher, Daraja Press
Among the other 13 books of poetry and prose by Lababidi was Quarantine Notes (Fomite Press, 2023) short meditations to heal and inspire that he composed during our global pandemic.
Prior to that, Lababidi published Desert Songs (Rowayat, 2022), Learning to Pray: a Book of Longing (Kelsay Books, 2021) as well as Revolutions of the Heart (Wipf & Stock, 2020) a genre-bending collection of essays & conversations.
He is, also, the author of 2 critically-acclaimed books of aphorisms: Signposts to Elsewhere (2019) and Where Epics Fail (2018).
Featured on PBS NewsHour, Lababidi's short meditations were generously endorsed by President Barack Obama's inaugural poet, Richard Blanco, who wrote: "Aphorisms are an ancient form, but its current-day master is Yahia Lababidi." Signposts was selected as a Book of the Year by The Independent (UK) and issued by Hay House, publishers of Deepak Chopra, Dr. Wayne Dyer and Marianne Williamson.
Lababidi, Egyptian-American thinker/poet, and author of 5 other well-received books of poetry and prose, has been invited to speak at Oxford University and NPR as well as being featured in Best American Poetry, World Literature Today, On Being with Krista Tippett, The Guardian and Al Jazeera, among several other esteemed cultural outlets.
Lababidi's BALANCING ACTS: New & Selected Poems (1993-2015), published by Press 53, is a celebration of more than twenty years of his poetry. According to Chard deNiord, Poet Laureate of Vermont, it 'resonates in plain-spoken yet dazzling poetry--sometimes epigrammatic, sometimes expansive--that betrays the eclectic transmissions of Lababidi's myriad influences, from Rumi to Kierkegaard, Dickinson to Kafka.'
Also by Lababidi is an eclectic collection of cultural essays, TRIAL BY INK: From Nietzsche to Belly Dancing as well as two poetry volumes, FEVER DREAMS and BARELY THERE, a collection of his shorter verse, much of which was inspired by the constraints of social
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 24, 2023
Mr. Lababidi is both an idealist and an intellectual. His aphorisms drive that point home. One critic describes him as such: "I find myself pausing everywhere among these wisdoms, wondering why the world stumbles and staggers through such a dark and greedy time when there are people alive with such keen, caring insight. . .If Yahia Samir Lababidi were in charge of a country, I would want to live there." I don't believe I would take it that far. The world we presently live in has outlawed idealists and intellectuals.
No intellectual or idealist leader would engage a nation in a foreign war when that nation is not under direct threat. Nor would said leader allocate billions of dollars abroad to fund such a war. The war in Ukraine with Russia comes to mind. Both Putin and Zelinsky are modern day czars. Poverty, homelessness, crime would, it seems to me, appeal to this intellectual leader first and foremost to combat.
But I digress. Find below examples of Mr. Lababidi's aphorism:
EXCHANGES
What unexpected turns our losses to take
in winding their way back into our arms:
an absent lover returns as many others,
a nation forsaken in the shape of a new life;
poems might take the place of parents
and friends gone come back as a wife.
If love were not always a step ahead
how would it ensure we kept up the chase?
ST SEBASTIAN
Sometimes, he found it difficult
to dislodge the arrows
preferring to keep them alive there
reverberating in silence
along with his invisible wounds.
THE OPPOSITE OF VIRTUE
One might say, a vice is a vise
never mind if metal or moral,
it's basically the same device
with cunning moveable jaws
designed to fix us in place
and cheat us of a change at grace
Impervious to all advice, habit
hotly whispers false reassurance
with tightening is iron grip
It takes no effort to slip into vice,
but virtue is trickier to stick to
like the back of a bucking bronco.
No intellectual or idealist leader would engage a nation in a foreign war when that nation is not under direct threat. Nor would said leader allocate billions of dollars abroad to fund such a war. The war in Ukraine with Russia comes to mind. Both Putin and Zelinsky are modern day czars. Poverty, homelessness, crime would, it seems to me, appeal to this intellectual leader first and foremost to combat.
But I digress. Find below examples of Mr. Lababidi's aphorism:
EXCHANGES
What unexpected turns our losses to take
in winding their way back into our arms:
an absent lover returns as many others,
a nation forsaken in the shape of a new life;
poems might take the place of parents
and friends gone come back as a wife.
If love were not always a step ahead
how would it ensure we kept up the chase?
ST SEBASTIAN
Sometimes, he found it difficult
to dislodge the arrows
preferring to keep them alive there
reverberating in silence
along with his invisible wounds.
THE OPPOSITE OF VIRTUE
One might say, a vice is a vise
never mind if metal or moral,
it's basically the same device
with cunning moveable jaws
designed to fix us in place
and cheat us of a change at grace
Impervious to all advice, habit
hotly whispers false reassurance
with tightening is iron grip
It takes no effort to slip into vice,
but virtue is trickier to stick to
like the back of a bucking bronco.
Want to read
December 5, 2013Master aphorist Yahia Lababidi brings his acute observations on the human condition to poetry. This book is a must for fans of Rumi, Hafiz or Gibran.
September 21, 2013
The poems of Mr. Lababidi ( Poet. Aphorist. Seeker ) take us back to pure poetry with their imagery, metaphors and deep sensations. We read about "the difficult doors of opportunity" which "suddenly yield at the key"; and "the intricate network of noise ". The feelings in the poems are superb. sensed more and more on re-reading.
A wonderful book of poetry...
A wonderful book of poetry...
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
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