Customer Reviews

Echoes in Exile

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Sheema Kalbasi's "Echoes in Exile" is a valuable gift to the world of poetry. Reading her poems is like taking a plunge into a pool of warm and undeniable emotions. In between words one can feel the longing for a far away home, a haunting past and reconciliatory words of hope. She tells stories not only WITH poetry, but also TO poetry. Her symbiotic relation with words visualizes a new dimension in an unknown new style and genre. A definite pleasant and interesting read. - Tina Ehrami

Sheema Kalbasi, noted Iranian-born poet and human rights activist, presents ECHOES IN EXILE. A collection of poems which addresses topics on God, country, womanhood, humanity, and the world. The book is divided into two sections: The Warrior and Silent Sensuality.

My favorite poem was "Mama In the War." With its carefully chosen words, it brought rich and heartbreaking images to mind. I interpreted it to be about a mother shielding her children from the wickedness and perils of war and intolerance. I also liked the bold irony of "Shame Free," a testament of longing for an existence other than what is real.

Sheema Kalbasi has written an entrenching, thought-provoking book of poetry. Many of the works gave me a pause...ponder...pause feeling, and I found myself re-reading several of them multiple times. ECHOES IN EXILE is a worthy collection for poetry fans who like to read between the lines.

Reviewed by CandaceK
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Sheema is a true human rights activist and a great poet with a compassionate soul. Knowing her personally allows me to appreciate her work more than usual and respect her views better than ever. This book, consisting of short modern poems, is a great treasure and a wonderful piece for all of us. The Iranian-American community and particularly the Iranians in exile should be grateful for the valuable works that Sheema has done in years. I love this book. I hope these works of her can reach young people and women inside of Iran. They deserve to know about this.

Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (5/07)

Sheema Kalbasi is a stranger in a foreign land. She movingly speaks to the oppression of religious and cultural minorities in Iran.

Ms. Kalbasi shares the horror of war, bombs exploding, "children dying and journalist filming." She attempts to open the eyes of the world to the atrocities of war. The "Kaddish" speaks of the pain and death in the Middle East. The citizens have long known war, blood in the streets and bodies riddled with bullets.

Many of her poems speak of children. There are children in war-torn areas drawing pictures of "her dad, dead behind prison walls." "New England" speaks of watching her own child securely playing by the seashore, safe, with dreams of friends. All children deserve the right to sweet dreams and good memories, but as Ms. Kalbasi shows, not all children experience them.

"For Women of Afghanistan" is heart-wrenching. The women are widows, dying of hunger and begging for food. These women are educated, doctors and teachers, but are not allowed to work because they are women. "Men with unknown identity without faces decide my very existence."

This book is divided into two sections, the first is "Warrior" and the second is "Silent Sensuality." The second section speaks to love, a woman desiring a man, wanting him to touch her. Ms. Kalbasi bares her soul to readers, sharing her love for a man and the pain and pleasure love can bring.

"Echoes in Exile" by Sheema Kalbasi is a book of poetry that readers won't easily forget. The poems are appealing and philosophical. The poems speak to the rights of women and the pain of war. She shares the pain of never being able to return home but the glory of knowing her daughter is safe and has not experienced the sound of bombs and the sight of bodies lying in the street. Ms. Kalbasi is a tremendously gifted poet. It is with honor I highly recommend "Echoes in Exile."

Received book free of charge.