Kazim Ali is a poet, novelist, and essayist whose work explores themes of identity, migration, and the intersections of cultural and spiritual traditions. His poetry is known for its lyrical and expressive language, as well as its exploration of themes such as love, loss, and the search for meaning in a rapidly changing world. ‘Sukun’ means serenity or calm, and a sukun is also a form of punctuation in Arabic orthography that denotes a pause over a consonant. This Sukun draws a generous selection from Kazim’s six previous full-length collections, and includes 35 new poems. It allows us to trace Ali’s passions and concerns, and take the measure of his art: the close attention to the spiritual and the visceral, and the deep language play that is both musical and plain spoken.
[sample poem]
The Fifth Planet
Come, early summer in the mountains, and come, strawberry moon,
and carry me softly in the silver canoe on wires to the summit,
where in that way of late night useless talk, the bright dark asks me,
‘What is the thing you are most afraid of?’ and I already know
which lie I will tell.
There were six of us huddled there in the cold, leaning on the rocks
lingering in the dark where I do not like to linger, looking up at the
sharp round pinnacle of light discussing what shapes we saw—rabbit,
man, goddess—but that brightness for me was haunted by no thing,
no shadow at all in the lumens.
What am I, what am I, I kept throwing out to the hustling silence.
No light comes from the moon, he’s just got good positioning
and I suppose that’s the answer, that’s what I’m most afraid of,
that I’m a mirror, that I have no light of my own, that I hang in empty space
in faithful orbit around a god or father
neither of Whom will ever see me whole. I keep squinting to try to see Jupiter
which the newspaper said would be found near the moon but
it’s nowhere, they must have lied. Or like god, there is too much
reflection, headsplitting and profane, scraping up every shadow,
too much light for anyone to see.
Tabella dei contenuti
From The Far Mosque (21 poems) • Gallery • Renunciation • In the Agnes Martin Room, Source, Speech • Agnes Martin • Travel • The Studio • Departure • Train Ride • The Year of Summer • Night Boat • Rain • Thicket • The Return of Music • Dear Rumi • Said: In the Rain • Maya or Mayaar • Rhyme • Sleep Bowl • July • From The Fortieth Day (23 poems) • Lostness • Morning Prayer • Dear Sunset, Dear Avalanche • Mouth • The Art of Breathing • Rope • Cave • Vase • Afternoon Prayer • Ornithography • Sleep Door • Garland • Ramadan • Ursa Major • The Ninth Planet • Dear Lantern, Dear Cup • Naval Missive • Night Prayer • August • Perish • Pip • Autobiography • Waiting for the Train • From Bright Felon (5 pieces) • Marble Hill • Carlisle • Cairo • Paris • Home • From Sky Ward (20 poems) • Follower • Divination • Fairy Tale • Frozen • Prayer Request Cards • Autobiography • The Escape • Sinking • Prayer • Rapture • Epiphany • Ocean Street • Adrift • Promisekeeper • Hofmann’s New York • The Wrestler • Dear Shams • Confession • The Promise of Blue • Hymn • From Silver Road (10 poems) • Drunk Text • All Ways to Know • Star Sailor • Newport Journal • Baggage Claim • Dome of the Rock • A Cartography • Laramie Journal • Theft • My Chewed Book • From Inquisition (18 poems) • Earthquake Days • Abu Nuwas • Light House • John • His Mosaic Prayer • Origin Story • The Failure of Navigation in the Valley • Letter to Zephyr • Labors of Psyche • Drone • Chopping the Birch • The Dress-maker of Galilee • Amerika the Beautiful • Inquisition • Yannis Ritsos • Text Cloud Anthology • Son of History • Legislature • From Strays (9 poems) • Museum of Flight • Visit Home • Dispersal • Fox Week • In-flight Movie • Falcon • The Year of Autumn • Slipknot • Lighthouse • From The Voice of Sheila Chandra (23 poems) • Hesperine for David Berger from ‘The Voice of Sheila Chandra’ • Phosphorine (from ‘Phosphorus’) • From Crib and Cage (10 poems) • Sonne et • Good Boy • Glome • Sonner • Major • Minor • Drom • Chord • Calm • Pelt • New Poems (22 poems) • Golden Boy • Crumpled Up • Pulse • Peter • The Dark Brother • The Unlikely Event of a Water Landing • Junipero Serra Arrives • Exit Strategy Quiz • The Fifth Planet • Mulberry • Agha Shahid Ali Recites • Icarus Turns Fifty • Afternoon Lecture • Saudade • Cathedral • Solace • Syrinx, or The Kiss • Petrichor Lecture • Citizenship • Yield • Soukoun • Notes/Acknowledgments
Circa l’autore
Kazim Ali’s Sukun: New and Selected Poems is due out from Wesleyan in the fall of 2023. Ali’s work encompasses multiple genres, including poetry and cross-genre texts. His novels include The Secret Room: A String Quartet and among his books of essays are the hybrid memoir, Silver Road: Essays, Maps & Calligraphies, and Fasting for Ramadan: Notes from a Spiritual Practice, and a memoir of his Canadian childhood, Northern Light. After a career in public policy and organizing, he is currently a Professor of Literature at the University of California, San Diego.
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