The Magazine "Shi'r"

The new year has brought us a unique literary event: the appearance of the magazine "Shi'r." At last this branch of literature has a free stage from which poetry can loose its far-carrying, limpid voice, spread over it with its creative brush colors and lights, and play the sweetest and deepest of melodies.

It is a bold undertaking on the part of Mr. Youssef al-Khal and his companions, and were it not for the love of risk rooted in his blood, this "yellow candle" would never have shed its light upon our library.

The magazine "Shi'r" will appear at the opening of every season — four times a year. Before us is its first issue, for the winter of 1957, and it is full of familiar names and new ones, and of studies on the concept of modern poetry, together with valuable translations of Western verse.

The magazine's activity will be accompanied by a weekly poetry salon for debate and for listening to the newest of the new. This salon was inaugurated, on the occasion of the appearance of "Shi'r," on Tuesday evening, January 15, at the Plaza Hotel. The cocktail party was a crowded affair, bringing together the elite of poets and men of thought. In their midst stood the host, the editor-in-chief of "Shi'r," Mr. Youssef al-Khal, and his charming wife, the artist Helen, who contributed to the project by designing the cover, which met with great admiration and praise, both for its taste and for its simplicity. Nor shall we forget the Rihani Press, which succeeded in giving the magazine a beautiful, clean production.

As we congratulate the family of "Shi'r" on bringing this heartfelt wish into the realm of action, we wish our newborn colleague prosperity and wide circulation.