Shows
DARAJA PRESS PODCASTSPalestine WailPalestine is personal for writer, Yahia Lababidi. His Palestinian grandmother, Rabiha Dajani — educator, activist and social worker — was forced to flee her ancestral home in Jerusalem at gunpoint some eighty years ago. As an Arab-American, Lababidi feels deeply betrayed by the USA’s blind support of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. In Palestine Wail, he reminds us that religion is not politics, Judaism is not Zionism, and to criticize the immoral, illegal actions of Israel is not antisemitism — especially since, as an Arab, Lababidi is a Semite himself. Using both poetry and prose, Lababidi reflects on how we are neither ou...
2024-11-1852 min
Read Me a Poem“The Limits of Love” by Yahia LababidiAmanda Holmes reads Yahia Lababidi’s “The Limits of Love.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman. This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2024-04-0202 min
By the WellA252 Pentecost 25Sally and Robyn discuss Judges 4:1-7; Psalm 123; 1 Thess 5:1-11, and Matthew 25:14-30.
The Thessalonians quote is from Nijay Gupta's commentary. The quote from Yahia Lababidi was from this episode of Soul Search.
2023-11-0831 min
Progressive Christian podcastsSalvaging the light: Poet and aphorist Yahia LababidiThis episode originally aired 8 May 2022.
an literature somehow bridge the visible and invisible realms? Meredith Lake speaks with Egyptian-American poet and aphorist Yahia Lababidi, whose work ranges across cultures, traditions and genres.
Find Yahia Lababidi’s books here
Listen to the Philosophy in a Nutshell series on The Philosopher’s Zone with David Rutledge
Guests
Yahia Lababidi is a writer, poet and aphorist. Originally from Cairo, in Egypt, he now lives in Florida, US. His latest book of poetry is Learning to Pray.
2023-01-0100 min
Soul School Archives - Lisa Colón DeLay | Spiritual Formation and the Way of the Desert EldersA book of longing; Yahia Lababidi [SSL 236]Featuring "Learning to Pray: A book of Longing" by poet and aphorist, Yahia Lababidi.
2022-07-0617 minPodcast – Lisa Colón DeLay | Spiritual Formation and the Way of the Desert EldersA book of longing; Yahia Lababidi [SSL 236]Featuring "Learning to Pray: A book of Longing" by poet and aphorist, Yahia Lababidi.
2022-07-0617 min
Spark My MuseA book of longing; Yahia Lababidi [SSL 236]Featuring "Learning to Pray: A book of Longing" by poet and aphorist, Yahia Lababidi.
2022-07-0617 minSoul School Archives - Lisa Colón DeLay | Spiritual Formation and the Way of the Desert EldersDesert Songs | Yahia Lababidi [SSL 233]New work from award-winning Egyptian-American poet and aphorist Yahia Lababidi (Desert Songs)
2022-06-0817 minPodcast – Lisa Colón DeLay | Spiritual Formation and the Way of the Desert EldersDesert Songs | Yahia Lababidi [SSL 233]New work from award-winning Egyptian-American poet and aphorist Yahia Lababidi (Desert Songs)
2022-06-0817 minProgressive Christian podcastsSalvaging the light: Poet and aphorist Yahia LababidiCan literature somehow bridge the visible and invisible realms? Meredith Lake speaks with Egyptian-American poet and aphorist Yahia Lababidi, whose work ranges across cultures, traditions and genres.
2022-05-0800 minyahia-lababidi 3Speak PodcastMy Vlog of Covid19 Reflections & a Forthcoming Book I'm Inhttps://3speak.tv/watch?v=yahia-lababidi/ivirdysj I'm proud to be part of a forthcoming anthology, Dear Vaccine. This global community poem has the noble intention of promoting COVID-19 vaccination. This project is a collaboration between the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University as well as the University of Arizona Poetry Center.
In this short video I talk about how Covid is a blessing in disguise, reminding us of our higher allegiances to the human family, and how our lives (literally, as it turns out) depend upon each other. Getting vaccinated is a way of...
2022-02-0800 min
yahia-lababidi 3Speak PodcastTurning Migraines into Insighthttps://3speak.tv/watch?v=yahia-lababidi/zwnwxmji In the past few years, I've experienced something called cluster migraines, unlike headaches I've ever known before. They're pretty awful things that feel like a storm gathering in my head, can last for days at a time and are accompanied by acute nausea.
Who knows where these beasts come from or where they go to... I do know that when they strike I need to minimize screen time (for example, I'm shutting my eyes to type every other sentence, here).
To make the most of this unpleasant...
2021-12-1600 min
yahia-lababidi 3Speak PodcastWhat does it mean to "arrive" spiritually?https://3speak.tv/watch?v=yahia-lababidi/ayqtksrh You'll know
You’ll know you’ve finally arrived when
you get to the point where you can leave
life’s bustling marketplace, empty-handed
Smiling easily at merchants as they hawk their wares
of fruit and flesh, pausing here and there to admire
a fine raiment or strain of song, but not for overlong
You’ll know you’ve cleared a hurdle and are home free
when you emerge at the end of that entrancing fair
unperturbed, without bulging pockets or...
2021-12-1100 min
yahia-lababidi 3Speak PodcastTrance, After Sexhttps://3speak.tv/watch?v=yahia-lababidi/ovmzesni What the Sunset Said
Something happened as the light was dying
it wasn’t just post-coital exhalation
where the once-possessed body is used up
and all that remains is bodiless trance
Rather, it seemed they were mirroring
a preternatural stillness,
two spiritual sentinels
transfixed and somehow Other
Science calls it “twilight calibrated magnetic compass”
yet it appeared beyond mere direction-finding
more a kind of existential orientation
consolidating all they knew, and listening
with their entire...
2021-12-0600 min
yahia-lababidi 3Speak PodcastConfessions: My Journey from Philosophy to Spiritualityhttps://3speak.tv/watch?v=yahia-lababidi/tehuyvbl Truth be told, I don't know how I got to where I am, today, or where I might be heading: from Western philosophy to Eastern mysticism...
I do know that after decades of doubt and worshipping the mind, I'm moving towards a more heart-based existence -- exchanging logic for spirituality.
Poetry is, partly, responsible for this gradual transformation -- the poems of others which have led me here as well as my own, which has guided me, along the way...
But, really, it's something deeper...
2021-12-0400 min
fermentedphil 3Speak PodcastThe Untranslatability of Ideas: Reading a Poem in Afrikaans and Reflections on Translationhttps://3speak.tv/watch?v=fermentedphil/itwfqnme # The Untranslatability of Ideas: Reading a Poem in Afrikaans and Reflections on Translation
This is my first real video on Hive. There is a reason why some people can act, and some people can make videos. This is not easy. In any case, in the video, I read a poem in my home language Afrikaans. I proceed to reflect on translation and why I think it is so hard to achieve any outcome in translation. This is not an in-depth study, but more of an art project of some...
2021-12-0200 min
yahia-lababidi 3Speak PodcastBe Kind to Yourself (short meditaion and video)https://3speak.tv/watch?v=yahia-lababidi/ildatbik Start, Again
Sunset is a gentle master to all that are stricken
patiently, teaching us how to melt a bruise away
Watch how, with a silver whisk, that cracked egg
of a setting sun is majestically stirred, and put to rest
Violent violet, pining pink, and yelling yellow
all agitated, then muted, their differences reconciled
Until all that remains is a faint tattoo of quiet hurt
pearlescent wisps of smoke from a sighing flame
that night, stealthily, smothers and...
2021-11-2900 min
yahia-lababidi 3Speak PodcastMeditation on Sin & Salvation (video reading from my new book)https://3speak.tv/watch?v=yahia-lababidi/gssqfaql >No one sings as purely as those who inhabit the deepest hell
–what we take to be the song of angels is their song.
― Franz Kafka
Awakening from a Dream
In the night, the feathery fists came raining down
He ducked and staggered as they landed, again and again,
On his head, neck and across his shaking back
There was no avoiding this relentless retribution
Could it be, these were the familiar hands of his angels
The same stro...
2021-11-2600 min
yahia-lababidi 3Speak PodcastCan an Artist be a Prophet... or a Scientist... or Social Justice Activist?https://3speak.tv/watch?v=yahia-lababidi/awsnmlkm The Price of Prophecy
That sweet burden of revelation
entails a life-long separation—
A prophet cannot belong to family,
peers, nation, spouse or themselves
Devotion can only be to the One…
since even their all is hardly enough
Distraction is blasphemy
and attention is finite
This is no excuse to ever be unkind
as that would render a prophet unfit
Only a reminder of their apartness
as someone whose life is not theirs
2021-11-2200 min
yahia-lababidi 3Speak PodcastReflection on Growing Older (nearly 50 years old)https://3speak.tv/watch?v=yahia-lababidi/ximqmahk Gradual Escape
I'm being hollowed out, I feel it
in the subtle droop of skin and will,
like the life stuffing were slowly
being spooned out of me
My mind, too, is being emptied
of needless concerns
(such as, who's in charge)
traveling lighter, demanding less
One day, finally, I'll slip out this
loosening body bag—
simply sling it over the shoulder
of my sturdy spirit.
© Yahia Lababidi, author of Learning to Pray
2021-11-1800 min
yahia-lababidi 3Speak PodcastSpeaking of Spiritual Awakening ... (indirectly, in parable)https://3speak.tv/watch?v=yahia-lababidi/flpiuyev Arrivals
I don’t quite know how it occurred
that this great fish has appeared
almost fully formed, it seemed
to crowd out all else in my aquarium
Perhaps, this creature of the depths
always was, just out of sight
secretly feeding on hidden longing
and now demands acknowledging
With the swish of a majestic tail
it’s upset my incidental decor—
gone the rubber diver and plastic treasure.
The glass frame itself can’t be far behi...
2021-11-1600 min
yahia-lababidi 3Speak PodcastOriginal Poem on Spiritual Growth or Rebirthhttps://3speak.tv/watch?v=yahia-lababidi/dkwspfhs Gestation
This long disorientation,
I, now, understand better;
as my soul is rewritten
I have been learning again
how to breathe and walk
—under water and on air.
It's best not to say too much
or think you know anything;
preferable to keep very still
lest you might spoil everything
—when you are being reborn.
Gestation is hardly time
for any grand pronouncements:
lie low, feed, listen for clues.
Grow, inwardly, in knowing
2021-11-1500 min
yahia-lababidi 3Speak PodcastA Poem of Profound Disorientation -- When the Familiar is Strange ...https://3speak.tv/watch?v=yahia-lababidi/oekzskmq Some poems virtually write themselves and the so-called author hardly knows what to say of them. This is such a poem of profound disorientation, when the familiar is made strange and, during one's waking hours, one is transported into a kind of dream state.
All I can say is that it was evening when this poem was composed.
Something needed to be communicated and it got out:
Swithering
Sometimes, after the rain, returning home
the night is like a dark dew-speckled rose
2021-11-1000 min
yahia-lababidi 3Speak PodcastAre You Ready to Change Your Life?https://3speak.tv/watch?v=yahia-lababidi/onvaepdl There are moments in every life when we feel stuck, stagnating
and longing for radical change.
But, to act upon this requires courage, because changing our lives
can be both exciting and terrifying.
Yet the alternative, staying in a space we've outgrown, can feel
like a living death -- so, sometimes, it's this mounting sense of unease,
that forces the decision.
These are themes that I try to explore in my poem, below, found in my new book, Learning to Pray
2021-11-0200 min
yahia-lababidi 3Speak PodcastMysticism in the Desert (of Egypt)https://3speak.tv/watch?v=yahia-lababidi/cduwufwq The desert is a space of mystery, meditation, even mysticism...
When I lived in Cairo, Egypt, over a decade and a half ago, I would head to the desert periodically: to empty myself of the city’s noise, overhear myself and then lose myself.
I approached these desert pilgrimages with the earnest intention and passionate belief that I was going to encounter that part of myself not entirely accessible in other circumstances. In the desert, there is nothing to hide behind, nowhere and no one to turn to...
2021-11-0100 min
yahia-lababidi 3Speak PodcastUNmasked: Meeting Your True Self (Video)https://3speak.tv/watch?v=yahia-lababidi/hjsrispo Most of us present ourselves to the world masked and are even masked
to ourselves. Whether consciously or unconsciously, we run away from
ourselves ― through distraction, inattention, or fear of the hard work required to look ourselves in the face, unmasked.
This prose poem is a meditation on what it might mean to meet our true self, what is also called our Higher Self:
Encounter
I stirred in the small hours of the morning. Sensing a presence, I did not return to sleep, bu...
2021-10-2900 min
Little Spark ShortsEps. 188: From the Mute Center; Guest, Yahia LababidiWe are often seduced by the brevity of aphorisms, but they can change your life. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sparkmymuse.substack.com/subscribe
2020-11-1155 min
Little Spark ShortsPockets of the Day [SSL168]Gorgeous, spacious, and needed gems from three poets: Steve Garnaas-Holmes, Mary Oliver, Yahia Lababidi This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sparkmymuse.substack.com/subscribe
2020-09-3009 minSoul School Archives - Lisa Colón DeLay | Spiritual Formation and the Way of the Desert EldersPockets of the Day [SSL168]Gorgeous, spacious, and needed gems from three poets: Steve Garnaas-Holmes, Mary Oliver, Yahia Lababidi
2020-09-3009 min
Process PieceEpisode 9: Yahia Lababidi - Practicing Faith in Art, Practicing Art in FaithYahia Lababidi is an Egyptian-Lebanese poet, writer, and aphorist. He grew up in Egypt, attended university in the states and eventually moved there later in life and is still based in Florida to this day. He has written several critically acclaimed books including his first book of aphorisms, Signposts to Elsewhere, a collection of poetry, Balancing Acts, and his newest compilation of aphorisms, Where Epics fail: Meditations to Live By. We discuss Yahia’s literary background, displacement and the concept of formulating your own creative home, the difference between writing prose, poetry and aphorisms, and the beauty and terror of...
2019-07-051h 17
The Sectarian ReviewSectarian Review 111: Yahia Lababidi, Where Epics FailThis week, Danny Anderson is pleased to present a wide-ranging interview with Yahia Lababidi, an Egyptian-American poet, about his recent collection of aphorisms, Where Epics Fail. The aphorism is an ancient form of poetic wisdom, and we discuss what that form offers the modern world. In addition, Lababidi discusses his experiences an an Egyptian immigrant to America before an after the Trump presidency. Other topics include: the value of silence and solitude, how to be gracious and merciful while living in community with others, the challenges of social media, and the significance of alien invasion films! For full shownotes including...
2019-02-281h 25The Sectarian ReviewSectarian Review 111: Yahia Lababidi, Where Epics FailThis week, Danny Anderson is pleased to present a wide-ranging interview with Yahia Lababidi, an Egyptian-American poet, about his recent collection of aphorisms, Where Epics Fail. The aphorism is an ancient form of poetic wisdom, and we discuss what that form offers the modern world. In addition, Lababidi discusses his experiences an an Egyptian immigrant to America before an after the Trump presidency. Other topics include: the value of silence and solitude, how to be gracious and merciful while living in community with others, the challenges of social media, and the significance of alien invasion films! For full shownotes including...
2019-02-281h 25
Status/الوضع"Roots, the Global Citizen and Poetic Vision" with Yehia Lababidi [English]Arab-American poet, aphorist, and public intellectual.
19 February 2017| English
Hosted by Osama Esber
Osama Esber speaks with Arab-American poet Yahia Labadi.
2017-05-2530 min
PBSNewsHour"Speaking American," by Yahia Lababidi"Speaking American," by Yahia Lababidi by PBSNewsHour
2017-05-2201 min
The Godspeed InstituteEGYPTIAN-AMERICAN POET YAHIA LABABIDIYahia Lababidi is an Egyptian-American thinker and poet, nominated for a Pushcart Prize by World Literature Today magazine.
Lababidi's first book Signposts to Elsewhere, was selected as a 2008 Book of the Year by British publication The Independent. Signposts was followed by well-received collections of literary and cultural essays, Trial by Ink: From Nietzsche to Belly Dancing; a book of poetry titled Fever Dreams; and a series of literary dialogues with Alex Stein, The Artist as Mystic: Conversations with Yahia Lababidi.
Lababidi was chosen as a Juror for the 2012 Neustadt International Prize for Literature.
His late...
2014-03-2354 min