Absence and Longin A Reading of the Poetry Collection Before the Sea Awakens by Hussein Al Sayyab

Yemenat

Mohammed Al–Mekhalfi

When I opened the poetry collection (Before the Sea Awakens) by the Iraqi poet Hussein Al-Sayyab, I felt as though I were stepping into a blooming garden filled with tranquility, an atmosphere that mirrors his calm presence and gentle nature, known to all who have ever sat with him.

Al-Sayyab approaches poetry as one might handle something fragile, something feared to break between the hands. He preserves the simplicity of his spirit and maintains the necessary distance a writer needs to listen deeply to his own inner voice.

He has published several works, beginning with his first poetry collection (By the Heart’s Time) in Baghdad in 2019, followed by a second edition in 2020. Then came (Hymns of Pain) in 2020, (The Sand’s Melody) in 2022, and (Rain on the Clay’s Cheek) in 2024.

This latest collection, (Before the Sea Awakens),the subject of this study, was published recently in 2025 by Manazil Publishing House in Damietta, Egypt. It spans 143 pages and contains 127 poems. It begins with a text titled You Are the Dream That Awakens Me Every Morning and ends with The Land of Hassan Ajami.

Through this modest study, I will attempt to approach the collection as an emotional experience rather than a sequence of separate poems, seeking to understand how Al-Sayyab, with his quiet poetic voice and deep reflection, managed to make the sea awaken in the reader’s heart before it awakens on the page.

The title (Before the Sea Awakens) is a successful choice, rich with layered meanings. The word “before” opens a space of expectant waiting for what the sea might say when it wakes, since the sea is treated as a living being that sleeps and wakes. By attributing the act of awakening to it, the poet redraws the