Meena – 2006

Meena is a literary journal that prints all contributions in both English and Arabic. This second installment of the journal focuses specifically on Hurricane Katrina, the ramifications of rising floodwaters, and related global political-environmental concerns. Its prose elements include a discussion on the anthropological significance of famous bodies of water (the Ganges as bringer of tranquility to the dying, the Volga as a “strong citadel in the face of invaders,” are only the two most obvious metaphors referenced). Through reading these, we learn that the allocation of the Nile River resources has become a major component of the Arab-Israeli conflict, especially after Sadat’s plan to enrich Sinai with an irrigation channel was stunted by Ethiopian resistance. It is now suggested that Israel’s impending water crisis – which already leads to enormous imbalances in usage – may furnish grounds for another war. A brief socioeconomic history of the now-notorious 9th Ward, and a speculative history of the death of Atlantis that’s really about New Orleans, aren’t far behind.

Meena is a literary journal that prints all contributions in both English and Arabic. This second installment of the journal focuses specifically on Hurricane Katrina, the ramifications of rising floodwaters, and related global political-environmental concerns. Its prose elements include a discussion on the anthropological significance of famous bodies of water (the Ganges as bringer of tranquility to the dying, the Volga as a “strong citadel in the face of invaders,” are only the two most obvious metaphors referenced). Through reading these, we learn that the allocation of the Nile River resources has become a major component of the Arab-Israeli conflict, especially after Sadat’s plan to enrich Sinai with an irrigation channel was stunted by Ethiopian resistance. It is now suggested that Israel’s impending water crisis – which already leads to enormous imbalances in usage – may furnish grounds for another war. A brief socioeconomic history of the now-notorious 9th Ward, and a speculative history of the death of Atlantis that’s really about New Orleans, aren’t far behind.

Poetically, Meena hahas attracted Paris Review editor Charles Simic and internationally-acclaimed lyricist Mahmoud Darwish; the poems from each are what we’ve come to expect. Simic’s in particular carry detached, almost ghostly, impressions of an interior landscape destroyed by an unnamed political event – the kind of dark, surreal Central European skepticism that once made him a lucid translator of Novica Tadic’s work.

Given this issue’s politically-charged content, I was left asking: what do the Middle East, Central Europe, and New Orleans really have in common? Meena, to its credit, doesn’t state, as much as suggest, that their common attribute is ongoing destruction. Linking three landscapes as disparate as these is an audacious venture for any literary magazine; it’s one whose effort I appreciate, and hope to see more of in the future. [www.meenamag.com/]