George Bush, Bedouin Poet

Bedouin poetry composed in vernacular Arabic is an ancient art, and is nowadays often thought of as a dying one. However, in the period since the foundation of modern Arab states, before and since the Second World War, its practitioners have discovered new champs de bataille outside the traditional ones of inter-tribal conflict. With appropriate innovations in its traditional topoi and language, it now functions as a vehicle for commentary on all kinds of national, regional and even (as here) international political issues, providing a ‘grass roots’ view of the world—and in a witty and pungent vernacular idiom—that is usually absent from news and comment forums of Arab public life. Poetry of this kind occasionally appears in newspapers, but given the strong and often controversial views expressed, publication can be a risky business. More often, it circulates by word of mouth, on cassette tapes, and even via mobile phones and text messaging.