The Ghazal Page
 

"Guzzle," anyone? (I'm told that's the correct pronunciation.) This very old Middle Eastern form was new to me not so long ago, and this website supports it in a big way. I'm pleased that three of my efforts appear in the June issue, which will unfortunately be among its last. (So submit now!!!)

http://www.ghazalpage.net/2014/index.html

Good on ya, Jean. It has been announced on these S. pages, and I am so sad it is going.

I'll read your ghazels a.s.a.p. Looking forward to them.

The December issue of The Ghazal Page is now online. http://www.ghazalpage.net/2014/

Sad to say, it is the last issue of a very interesting journal.

The website will be available until early next year, according to the editor - but ... aren't there archive websites that will keep it available after that? I don't know any names, but I am sure they exist.

Does the Wayback Machine still archive stuff?
I have urged Gene to find a way to archive it, but I guess he's just out of steam and no one seems to have come forward to take it over, so.

I've run a search at The Internet Archive (the Wayback Machine) on the URL. I'm going to try to link to the results; let's see if this works.

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.ghazalpage.net

It's not everything, but it's something.

It works! Thanks! I'll tell Gene.

The Ghazal Page certainly expanded my horizons with its explorations of varieties of the classical ghazal, and the way Gene challenged us to push the boundaries of the form and explore what else could be done with it in English. The ghazal became one of my fallback forms for, say, when I get stuck during NaPo.

I don't know where "guzzle" comes from - I suppose Urdu, via Agha Shalid Ali. My son, who knows Farsi and Arabic, says that in Farsi its sort of RrraZAHL (he hears the initial consonant as a velar French "r"; my guess is that it's more the voiced equivalent of German "ch" (Dutch "gh"). Anyway, he says Arabic is the same but with the stress on the first syllable. So (except for one I wrote called "Chocolate guzzle") I'm going with Gha-ZAL.

Esther

Gene Doty - Ghazal Page editor
 

This is to let you know the sad news that Gene Doty has passed on. I had an email from one of his children. He had been ill for a year or so, I know.

Actually, I talked to an Egyptian friend of mine, and what he told me about the pronunciation fits exactly what Esther wrote.

So sad to hear of Gene Doty's passing. I always loved reading The Ghazal Page and didn't realize he was that ill. Definitely we'd like to do something to keep the archive. I imagine his family would like that.

On a side note in reference to pronunciation issues, I can't speak for the Farsi, but in Arabic, ghaZAL (where zal rhymes with pal) means gazelle or deer, and GHAzzle or GHUZzle means "flirtation." I was told by Ghazal Expert Mary Meriam that the proper meaning is the latter. Also, although the form popularized now is considered Persian in origin, the terminology sounds very Arabic to me: "sher" (pronounced more gutturally in Arabic) means "poem" for example. So I guess it relates to both traditions which in turn are related.

And finally, congrats, Jean, on your excellent ghazals which I enjoyed! And to all the fine contributors. May they enter perpetuity one way or another.

Siham

So sorry to hear about Gene. When it's time to lay it down.... Oh, my.