Al-Baradouni: Vision in Perception [Archives:1998/24/Culture]

A large audience gathered at Al-Afif Foundation on the evening of 9 June to listen to poetry recitation by one of Yemen’s and the Arab World’s most esteemed poets – the great Abdullah Al-Baradouni.
The recited poems included such beauties as The Wooden Song, A Sanaani in the Ummayid Hotel, Except Me and My Country, and A Drunk and a Bearded Policeman.
Born almost 71 years ago in the village of Zaraja, Al-Hadaa, Abdullah Al-Baradouni became blind at the age of 6 following a two-year struggle with smallpox without proper health care.
He started going to the village’s primary school at the age of 7, going on to the scholastic school in Dhamar. He started composing poetry at the age of 13. With perseverance and sheer will power, Al-Baradouni was able to defeat his handicap by studying at the Science House to graduate as a teacher of Arabic literature.
Known as a revolutionary poet, Al-Baradouni is able to ingeniously blend the traditional with the modern Arab poetry and create a new genre unique to his personality and environment.
Mohammed Bin Sallam,
Yemen Times
——
[archive-e:24-v:1998-y:1998-d:1998-06-15-p:./1998/iss24/culture.htm]