Like a Vermeer & Other Poems Review
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Like a Vermeer & Other Poems Feature
“Yousuf Zaigham came to America from Pakistan, the nation of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, and “a country/that I left three coup d’etats ago.” Readers of his mystical poems in “Palace of Rumi” will recognize the stance of the ecstatic rebel who can say, “God, you & I were, perhaps/not meant for each other,” but can also speak such delightful lines as these:
It has been hard as hell trying to make love
to every blossoming lettuce-coral,
swirling acacia & eucalyptus grove,
every ringed nipple, pierced navel,
pearled tongue, inebriated rain lily,
& tangoing galaxy of your restive,
brazen Isadora Duncan Creation.
“This kind of Whitmanesque openness to experience continues in the poems of “Palace of Rimbaud” as well as “Palace of Marvin Gaye”. Zaigham, who was first seduced by poetry in Urdu and now writes in English, has become a poet of the world—father, husband, lover—and enthusiast of the word. You will find welcome here.”—Dave Mason, author of The Buried Houses and The Country I Remember
“From the very first poem with “grenadine suns in your tequila sunsets” to the line, “my poems are the only stardust of my ashes” to the very last poem where Yousuf Zaigham tells us “the poems came like a tempest of miracles, budded asters in their rosy florescence” this book is a feast of language and poetic diction that defies description. Open Like a Vermeer anywhere, and you will enjoy a veritable banquet of poetry that harkens back to the rich literary traditions of Urdu’s great poets Ghalib & Josh.”—James Ciletti, author of At the Crack of Dawn
“Zaigham’s exuberant, chastening poems glory in and indict this world. His voice, full-throated, capering through the registers, is necessary and welcome. I will return to Like a Vermeer and Other Poems repeatedly”—Aaron Anstett, author of No Accident & Sustenance
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