The Tall Lighthouse
Poets: Abdul Jamal | Abi Curtis |  Adam O'Riordan | Andy Brown | Aoife Mannix |  Baden Prince |  Brendan Cleary  |  Camellia Stafford |  Cathy Ryan |  Ebele  |  Gareth Jones |  Graham Buchan |  Heather Taylor |  Helen Mort |  James Bell  | Janice Fixter |  Jay Bernard |  John Clarke | John McCullough | Keith Please |  Ken Champion |  Kim Lasky |  Lisa Dart |  Maggie Sullivan  |  Marc Swan | Miriam Gamble |  Nii Parkes |  Pierre Ringwald | Retta Bowen | Rhian Edwards |  Ronnie McGrath |  Wendy French

Abdul Jamal

Abdul Jamal Abdul Jamal's poetry is uncluttered and deceptively simple. He writes with studied economy with a voice that is clear and resonant, exploring the complexities of conflict, loss and longing.

 

publications:
above zanzibar

 

Jamal is a skilful storyteller, richly describing and reflecting on personal, colourful memories with a beautiful sense of pace and drama.

                                                                                            Chris Beaton, Happenstance

 

Boyhood friends from above zanzibar    

 

Sometime after our balls dropped,

we were what, eleven or twelve,

always at each other’s homes

engrossed in Meccano sets

or chewing sour mangoes

that made our eyes pucker

with their green astringency.

 

And then we fought,

                              over what

I can’t remember now. 

 

But I do recall

how our feelings disentangled

and we stopped speaking and went

our separate ways, making new friends.

 

I was told a shuttlecock knocked out your eye,

they put a dry glassy one in its place.

 

Sometimes guilt quivers beneath the surface.

 

Nothing to do with me

serves you right -

you stopped being my friend

 

and though I didn't quite believe it,

you went overseas forever, and I . . .

 

I never heard from you again.