If Only the Sea Could Sleep

One of the greatest poets of Arab literature, Adonis’s work often centers on the process of poetic creation, but his work has somehow remained highly appealing to Arab readers, and his has had, perhaps, more influence in terms of innovation and modernity than any other contemporary Arab poet. Twice he has been a finalist for the Nobel Prize. For Adonis, poetry is a vision (ru’ya) a leap outside of established concepts, a change in the order of things and in the way we look at them. Selected from *Al-A’mul al Shi’riyya, 1-3* (The Complete Works, 3 volumes) the current book explores the great Syrian poet’s oeuvre more than any other previous collection in English.