Abd al-Wahhab Al-Bayati

Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati (December 19, 1926 – August 3, 1999) was an Iraqi Arab poet.

Biography
al-Bayati was born in Baghdad. One of his friends, Ahmed Abdel-Moeti Hegazi, said urban centers of "hotels and institutions, cafés and airports" were actually his temporary residences. He attended Baghdad University, and became a teacher after graduating from Dar Al-Mu'allimin (the Teacher's College) in 1950, the same year that he released his first collection of poems, Mala'ika wa Shayatin (Angels and Devils).

Sufis
Al-Bayati was influenced by the Middle Eastern Sufi figures. One example is a poem by Al-Bayati entitled "A’isha's Mad Lover" in his book, Love Poems on the Seven Gates of the World (1971): "In this context Al-Bayati’s poetry becomes Sufi in default, since he assumes the position as a modernist whose aspirations for an earthy paradise have not materialized."

Original volumes

 * Mala'ika wa shayatin (Angels and Devils), 1950
 * Abariq muhashshama, 1954
 * Risala ila Hazim Hikmet wa quas'aid ukhra, 1956
 * Al-Majd li al-atfal wa al-zaytun, 1956
 * Ash'ar fi al-manfa, 1957
 * Ishrun qasida min Berlin, 1959
 * Kalimat la tamut, 1960
 * Muhakama fi Nisabur, 1963
 * Al-Nar wa al-kalimat, 1964
 * Sifr al-faqr wa al-thawra, 1965
 * Alladhi ya'ti wa laya'ti, 1966
 * Al Mawt fi al Hayat, 1968
 * Tajribati al-shi'riyya, 1968
 * 'Ulyun al-kilab al-mayyita, 1969
 * Buka'iyya ila shams haziran wa al-murtaziqa, 1969
 * Al Kitaba al Teen, 1970
 * Yawmiyyat siyasi muhtarif, 1970
 * Qasaid hubb 'ala bawwabat al-'alam al-sab, 1971
 * Sira dhatiyya li sariq al-nar, 1974
 * Kitab al-bahr, 1974
 * Qamar Shiraz, 1976
 * Mamlakat al-sunbula, 1979
 * Sawt al-sanawat al-daw'iyya, 1979
 * Bustan 'A'isha, 1989
 * Al-Bahr Ba'id, Asma'uh Yatanahhud (The Sea is Distant, I Hear It Sighing), 1998

Translated volumes

 * Lilies and Death, 1972 (trans. Mohammed B. Alwan)
 * The Singer and the Moon, 1976 (trans. Abdullah al-Udhari)
 * Eye of the Sun, 1978
 * Love Under Rain (Al-hubb tahta al-matar), 1985 (transl. Desmond Stewart and George Masri)
 * Love, Death, and Exile, 1990 (trans. Bassam K. Frangieh)

Anthologies with only works by Abd al-Wahhab Al-Bayati

 * Poet of Iraq: Abdul Wahab al-Bayati. An introductory essay with translations by Desmond Stewart, 1976
 * Abdul Wahab al-Bayati, 1979 (a short introduction and four poems, trans. Desmond Stewart and George Masri)

Anthologies with works by Abd al-Wahhab Al-Bayati and other poets

 * Abdullah al-Udhari, ed. and trans. Modern Poetry of the Arab World. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1986.
 * An Apology for a Short Speech
 * The Arab Refugee
 * The Fugitive
 * Hamlet
 * Profile of the Lover of the Great Bear
 * To Ernest Hemingway
 * Salma Khadra Jayyusi, ed. Modern Arabic Poetry: An Anthology. New York: Columbia University Press, 1987
 * The Birth of Aisha and Her Death
 * Eligy for Aisha
 * The Impossible
 * Luzumiyya
 * Simawe, Saadi ed. Iraqi Poetry Today, ISBN 0-9533824-6-X London: King's College, London, 2003
 * The Dragon
 * An Elegy to Aisha
 * I am Born and I Burn in My Love
 * Love Under The Rain
 * The Nightmare
 * Nine Ruba'iyat
 * Shiraz Moon
 * Three Ruba'iyat
 * To Naguib Mahfouz [Amman, 15 April 1997]
 * To TS Eliot
 * Transformations of Aisha: Aisha's Birth and Death in the Magical Rituals Inscribed in Cuneiform on the Nineveh Tablets
 * Two Poems for my son, Ali
 * Who Owns the Homeland?
 * Writing on Aisha's Tomb