Bøger af Agha Shahid Ali

Consisting primarily of expanded or revised versions, 'vault' material and "stray bastards", the 'posthumous' Contemporary Ghazals No. 7 (in the words of magazine founder and original editor R. W. Watkins) "represents the furthest one can take the ghazal form while still preserving the fundamental dynamics of its structure, if not always some semblance of its basic self". Hence the inclusion of such cutting-edge and often lengthy treatments of the form at the hands of such seasoned practitioners as Steffen Horstmann, Mike Alexander, David Raphael Israel and R. W. Watkins himself. Other familiar names found in this issue include Denver Butson, William Dennis, Barbara Little, Daniel Hales, Bill West and Red Slider. There is even a 'cut-up' of Agha Shahid Ali (1949-2001) ghazals as assembled and embellished by Watkins and Eugene Melino. The groundbreaking Contemporary Ghazals was discontinued as a regular publication in 2016, when Watkins chose to replace it with Eastern Structures, a magazine more inclusive of various other Asian poetic forms. But this double-length special issue-the second in a series of CG-related archival publications from Nocturnal Iris-is a not-so-subtle reminder of the earlier mag's devotion to form and a testament to its continued appeal.

Agha Shahid Ali died in 2001, mourned by myriad lovers of poetry and devoted students. This volume, his shining legacy, moves from playful early poems to themes of mourning and loss, culminating in the ghazals of Call Me Ishmael Tonight. The title poem appears in print for the first time.from "The Veiled Suite"I wait for him to look straight into my eyesThis is our only chance for magnificence.If he, carefully, upon this hour of ice,will let us almost completely crystallize,tell me, who but I could chill his dreaming night.Where he turns, what will not appear but my eyes?Wherever he looks, the sky is only eyes.Whatever news he has, it is of the sea.

"Translucent elegies 'for the city that is leaving forever' (Srinagar) from one of its sons, who also happens to be one of America's finest younger poets."-John Ashbery

A star-studded anthology infuses English poetry with the rigor and wit of a foreign form.

With his prologue poem "Eurydice," Agha Shahid Ali's Nostalgist introduces the motifs of journey and exile, myth and politics, history and loss, that animate this collection.

"Ali's ghazals are contemporary and colloquial, deceptively simple, yet still grounded in tradition....Highly recommended."-Library Journal

"An incomparable work, an unmatched achievement."-Anthony Hecht