Hamdan Dammag

Hamdan Dammag is an exiled Yemeni prize-winning novelist, poet, and researcher with several publications and diverse research and writing interests. He received his PhD in computer science from the University of Reading in 2005, and since then he has worked as an academic, journalist, translator, human rights activist, and political analyst. He is currently vice-chair of the Liverpool Arab Art Festival (UK) and vice-president of the Yemeni Centre for Studies and Research (Yemen).

Nights and Tales

My head is overflowing

With nights and tales

And with black thoughts.

My vision is raided

By a whirlwind of time’s sand

And the sobbing of a rabid brain.

My memory is churning the summer’s illusions

And the farce of whims and wills.

I hear the footpaths of sorrow rumbling in my ears

And the whistles of the trains of exile whispering:

“Hey, you! Traveller in the port of the dreams

Fiddling with the strings of desire

Do not play with colours!

Let your fingers be burnt by amazement

And the ladies fill your head with mysteries”.