Yahia Lababidi

Egyptian-American Yahia Lababidi is the author of a poetry collection, Fever Dreams, an essay collection, Trial by Ink: From Nietzsche to Belly Dancing, and a collection of aphorisms, Signposts to Elsewhere. Lababidi’s work has appeared in several anthologies, and been translated into Arabic, Hebrew, Slovak, German, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Turkish, and Italian. His latest project, The Artist as Mystic, is a collaboration between himself and aphorist Alex Stein, in which they explore the lives and art of ecstatic poets.

  • Aphorisms on Art, Morality, and Spirit

    Aphorisms were the form that gave me the most relief, that offered the deepest bloodletting. In the aphorism, I didn’t have to say “I,” I could just let the thing speak itself, so I didn’t feel compromised or vulnerable. A shy truth that could also be a general truth. They had enough of an air of...