Poetry. Translated by Rainer Maria Gassen. Edited by Stanley H. Barkan. Cover Art and Title Painting by Yahya Silo. An Epiphany for the Soul: In two languages that bridge the waters from Kurdistan to the English-speaking world, Hussein Habasch presents his view of what it means to be a Human. The words tear at the skin and sinew of the reader towards an epiphany for the soul that is both too beautiful for words and, at the same time, a modern searing revelation of the state of Man. How it is possible, after a century of genocides to still write poetry, to still endeavor to epitomize what it is to be Human after such a dehumanizing period? We find in Habasch's poetry some glimmers of what is truly beautiful in being Human. 'Do you see the moon? on the clear sky that night how she moves her head with the melody of the drum and oboe she dances with the nearby clouds and with a happy face comes to us.' Reading AFRIN: AND THE CREATURE THAT USED TO BE CALLED HUMAN BEING, one comes away with a sense of the necessity of being reborn in beauty and sanctity to truly become Human.--Stanley H. Barkan