Editor's Comments
There are twelve ghazals in this issue for your reading pleasure. While they largely follow the familiar Persian/Udu form, there are two variations: Fergus Carty's "Questions," in tercet form, and Joel Neubaur's "Weak among the Desert Fathers and Mothers," with its extraodinarly long lines.
For display purposes, the lines of Joel's ghazal have been divided so that each couplet appears as a quatrain with the second and fourth lines indented. Otherwise, you would need a wide monitor to view the lines unbroken. Remember that the "couplets" we're familiar with are actually one long line divided into two for display purposes.
The two pages of this issue group loosely by theme. You may find grouping very loose, but perhaps the ghazals will resonate with each other. Both Eric Torgersen and Marian Brown St. Onge are new to The Ghazal Page; their accomplished ghazals are strong additions
Page One
Longing, loss, and sorrow are common themes in five of these ghazals, with Ruth Foley's "Forsythia Ghazal" providing contrast. Romantic love and love for the divine are traditional ghazal themes. These six ghazals offer contemporary versions of these themes.
Page Two
One deep theme of these six ghazals is the desert, both literal and figurative. A desert is not without life and nourishment; its apparent barrenness can conceal (or reveal) profound meanings. These ghazals range across the deserts of language and meaning, social conflict and technological crisis. As poems, they raise questions more than they provide answers.