She is the Capital of the Soul: The Book of San'Ǎ' by 'Abd Al-'Azīz Al-Maqalih

The article discusses the idiosyncratic poetics of the Yemen's foremost modernist poet, 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Maqalih, as reflected in his unique volume Kitaab San?a? ("The Book of Sana'", 2000). Though many critics regard the work merely as a tribute to his home city, I argue that this unique collection of poems primarily expresses al-Maqaslih's views regarding the essence of poetic language. Using Sana''s extraordinary cityscape and establishing a sense of magical realism, al-Maqalih juxtaposes two cities-the "real" Sana and the "poetic" Sana. By fusing the two, the poet dexterously conveys his modernist notions about the demiurgic power of language and the necessity of dream-vision in constructing new realities within artistic creation.