wonderful simple poems of such incredible elegance. softer than his later poems, he is as likely to speak of the southwestern desert as of kashmir. his poems are like water, a necessity. i am really glad i searched this little volume of poems out, his ability to say so much in so few words always impresses me.

I cannot forget the feel of these poems; they have taken on a life of their own in my mind. What a beautiful, empathy-filled voice! Ali renders in elegant, modest verse the complexities and, strangely, the beauty of an exilic, postcolonial existence. An arrow through the heart of modern cosmopolitanism.

the lines are drawn on the page so vividly, each word tells a story. i wish to god that he would have had more time. another book will follow this in 2003 (poets & writers magazine), and then...silence. grab the chance to get to know this amazing writer.

I think Shahid Ali is the only person in the world whose book jacket features quotes by Anthony Hecht and Michael Palmer. It's a tribute to the kind of poet he became.

And we miss him already.

His language is so eerie and unbelievable because he really did bring the cadences, literariness (and penchant for grief and drama) of Urdu into English. In this sense, every one of his poems is an expert translation--across continents, physical and otherwise.

The book is dominated by two intense long sequences, one in which the poet accompanies his mother's body to back to Kashmir, and the closing sequence--dynamic!--in which, paralyzed by grief over his mother's death (and his own illness) Shahid communes with the departed spirit of James Merrill.

Shahid was a magnificent poet, and a magnificent man. Often reviews focus on his romance with bringing the Ghazal into English, or assign him a role as a "new formalist,"--which (I understand) he hated to be called--however, his true (and secret) gift is only the "multiply exiled" (to borrow Shahid's phrase) could have: a deep understanding of the "words behind the words."

We miss you, Shahid.

From his last book: "Dear Shahid...we are waiting for the almond blossoms. And, if God wills, O! those days of peace when we all were in love and the rain was in our hands whenever we met."

Only a rebel can say words as deep and meaningful as
Aaaj Ka Naam Aur Aaaj Ka Gham Ka Naam
Zard patton ka Gham jo mera Dees hai
Zard ki Anjoman jo mera dees hai

Faiz is a poet of beauty and love. His message is the reign of beauty and love in the country. The passion for enjoying the beauty of life, his deep attachment to love of self and the agony of the world, his love of humanity, his patriotism, his passion for revolution, his sense of justice, are all metaphors of the agony of love. That agony of love which is the soul of his imagination and feeling, on account of which he illuminates the beauty of both worlds with the desolation of his heart. For Faiz, the testing power of beauty is in its creativity. Beauty is not mere artistic value, it is also a social and moral value:
The candle of a look, the star of imagination, All these illuminations have come from your gathering.
Whichever be the source of pain, we ascribe it to you,
Whatever complaints we have, are on account of you.

If it be the agony of the world, if it is the beloved's face or the hand of the rival,
We responded towards all of these with love.
Faiz wrote a sad revolutionary battle-song, the like of which is not be found in any language of the world:

For the love of your flower-like lips,
We were sacrificed on the dry branches of the noose,
For the desire of the candles of your hands
We were killed on half-dark paths.
And with revolutionary dignity:
On our lips the words of the ghazal,
And the torch of misery in our hands,
Gather our banners from the place of murder,
Caravans of other lovers will emerge,
For whose path our feet have shortened the distances of pain.

In the Lenin Peace Prize speech he had said:
I believe that humanity which has never been defeated by its enemies will, after all, be successful; even now and at long last, instead of wars, hatred and cruelty, the foundation will rest on the message of Hafiz, an old Persian poet: "Every foundation you see is defective, except the foundation of love, which is faultless.
And Faiz Sahib prays:

Let us too lift our hands,
We who do not remember the customary prayer,
We who do not remember any idol or God except love.

This agony of love is not only a part of the human condition but it is a relationship which extends from one end of the world to another. Faiz Sahib's love for humanity is free from the prejudices of race, colour or nationality. The new literature of protest suggests a radical change and, in the words of Faiz, it confers on us the power of "forcefully spurning the hand of the killer". It does not accept defeat because it is convinced that darkness should and must end.
When personal sorrow drank the elixir of world-sorrow, the lovers' love became doubly strong:

My heart repents neither this love nor the other,
My heart is spotted with every kind of sorrow,
Except the mark of repentance.

Faiz is one of the best known poets in the Urdu tradition, so his work in translation is bound to be the object of much scrutiny and criticism. While it is impossible to recapture the rythms and music of Faiz's originals, this translation is indeed a beautiful one. Agha Shahid Ali has done a wonderful job of capturing the essence of the words. Faiz was a passionate politician, and that aspect of his personality comes out in his poems as musically and intensely as his writings of love. I am not much of a poetry reader, but it is impossible not to read and savor the work of Faiz!

faiz was one of the modern best poets of the world, though his most poems are about the labour class but at the same time he touches the heart of the humans by his sensitive words. after reading him one can very easily say , he is the best.

in the classic way of english writers who decide to tackle foriegn forms, this book cops out on presenting "real" ghazals in english. instead what we have are a collection of poems that could possibly be called "psuedo-ghazals" ...

the ghazal is a very beautiful and intricate form from an extremely rich culture and history; it should be respected as thus. this book, just from looking at the sample pages, shows me that this form has not been respected by its editor. ghazals have been written in english that can, in fact, be called ghazals and that conform to its highly rigid forms; the three ghazals presented in the samples do not show me a book that has attempted to find or solicit these ghazals or their authors.

if shahid should put together another book of ghazals in english, it is my hope more time will be spent compiling real examples of the ghazal form...

This book is an outstanding collection of ghazals (which are a very old Persian and Urdu form), written by some of our greatest poets writing in English today.

John Drury's "Ghazal of the Lagoon" is a masterpiece of the ghazal form, and it is one of my favorites in this collection. There are other great ghazals by Michael Collier and John Hollander, and by many other poets.

There is excellent prose (introduction and afterword) here, detailing exactly what a ghazal is, and how challenging it is to write ghazals in English, and how that differs from the process of writing ghazals in their original middle eastern languages.

The ghazals themselves are the real reason to buy this book. They're great! And, they leave the reader in touch with deep, rich, and profound emotion ... I didn't want to put this book down.

What a timely book with the potential to completely transform poetry and poetics as we know it! If Aga Shahid Ali's arguments for the Ghazal do not transform your sense of what you are doing as a poet, or what you think is happening in contemporary poetry, then the sheer vitality, cosmopolitanism, and incisive relevance of the poems in this collection will certainly do so.

When I began reading this collection, it failed to take me in. I believe this was largely my own failing as a reader, because I was hesitant to give myself over to the language, because in places the English doesn't sound, well, "English," or "American." And there is a very good reason for this: the author, Agha Shahid Ali, is from Kashmir. But this linguistic "duality of tone" on the poet's part does not diminish the language and its power, in any way. In fact, it strengthens it. As I read along, I found myself wholly absorbed in the poetry, and I went back and read the first few poems again, once I had "gotten the various tones, and come to expect the unexpected ...," and I found I was then taken into these poems ...

These are poems about the author's homeland, Kashmir, and its state of insurgent devastation after (and during) struggles for power in that land.

Ali uses forms with spellbinding effect. "The Floating Post Office" may be the most powerful sestina I have ever read. It is a tribute to the soul's insistence upon itself and its own power, even in the face of devastation and ruin ...

Ali also has a few ghazals (an ancient middle eastern form) in this book, which are very powerful as well. He also employs rhyme to great effect, in many kinds of poems. He uses terza rima to fine effect, and also has an excellent villanelle in this collection.

In the end, though, it is not Ali's deft touch with forms that brings the reader back to these poems. It is the passion which is conveyed through the poetry itself, from the page, to the reader.

This is probably not the best book to recommend to someone who is not familiar with American poetry, but it is an excellent, powerful, passionate book of poetry, and I recommend it very highly.

This is a rather touching book about Kashmir.I feel it is very good and srtongly recommend it as something to read occaisonaly when you are feeling liberal

i stumbled upon this by accident and will never forget it. without a doubt, my all-time favorite book of poetry.

Good but I was really knocked over by his book, 'The Country Without a Post Office'. Read that one first.