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Ghazal Games

Reviews

Ghazal Games overflows with intelligent charm: its well-formed couplets, fueled by iconoclasm, are blessed with clarity, goodheartedness, pizzazz, and prankishness. Let’s crown Roger Sedarat the king of Carnival; long may he reign.
–Wayne Koestenbaum — author of Best–Selling Jewish Porn Films

Ghazal Game #1

Think of the greatest love you’ve ever had ( ).
Write his/her name in the space provided_____.

As long as you reiterate this name,
The semblance of this ghazal is complete:_____!

Don’t doubt, no matter what terror may come,
That God will fill your emptiness with Dear_____.

For me, Janette. For Dante, Beatrice.
For Rumi, Shams-y-Tabriz. And for you?_____.

Space makes the greatest rhyme. Sufis know this,
In spite of their lust for someone just like_____.

Now burn your useless books! You’ll learn much more
Inside schoolhouses of desire taught by_____.

Is it so silly, making readers work?
Doesn’t most poetry ask you to find_____?

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here
To join (state your full name) and (state his/hers)_____…”

Computer code, universal language,
Breaks down when translating the essence of_____.

Would you obsess over your petty shame?
Instead, substitute it with a kiss from_____.

All maps lead you to bliss. Your G.P.S.
Just estimates the time and distance to_____.

Before the loggers come for the last tree,
Write this last line with a sharp knife: I ? _____.

At this point, do you think you really chose_____?
Before you were born, you were chosen by_____!

“RUMI: Poet of the Heart,” an award-winning 60 minute film produced and directed by Haydn Reiss, featuring Coleman Barks, Robert Bly, Deepak Chopra, storyteller and mythologist Michael Meade, and religious historian Huston Smith. Narrated by Debra Winger. Performances by oud virtuoso Hamza El Din and musician Jai Uttal offer inspiring accompaniment to this beautifully produced film. A lively and provocative exploration of the genius and timeliness of Rumi’s emergence in the west. In 2008 the surprising bestselling poet in America is a thirteenth-century Sufi poet and mystic named Jelaluddin Rumi. For over seven hundred years, Rumi’s writings have enchanted, inspired, and enlightened Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists. Rumi’s poetry celebrates the sacred in everyday existence and transcends boundaries of time, place, and religion to speak to all people.
Video Rating: 4 / 5