These gently fragmented narrative lyrics pursue enlightenment in long, elegant yet plain-spoken, dark yet ecstatic lines. Ali travels by water and by night, seeking the Far Mosque and its overarching paradox: that when God and Self are one, an ascent into Heaven is a voyage within.
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From Publishers Weekly
Moving between biblical and Qur'anic stories, sections of this debut explore questions of comparative faith: "Why not a religion of water in a time of great fires?" Painterly minimalism, open-field technique and Near Eastern traditions together give Ali a neatly varied verbal palette for his smart, quietly attractive poems. Single-line stanzas and unrhymed couplets portray visionary and partly abstract spaces where "all the eventual answers are nothing," and a questing reader "will sometime soon say: I am coming home now." A sequence set in France finds the same calm conundrums in its cathedrals and beaches, with their "silent groundswell, the swell of silence," while in later poems Ali pays homage by name to Emily Dickinson, to Rumi and to the painter Agnes Martin. Readers who seek explicitly Islamic material will find it near the end of the book, where unrhymed sonnets and an accomplished ghazal trace a search for spirit in nature and in the void: "Night" advises a rapt observer: "You are no plagiarist of dusk./ Nothing in the sky equals itself." Ali has also published a novel, Quinn's Passage; his unresting intellect and acoustic talents make him a poet to watch. (Nov.)
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Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
“The Far Mosque by Kazim Ali is a book in which the author has managed to render into the English language the universal inner voice. These poems talk to the reader from the realm in which we are all human. What a poet to be able to define spirit using the American vocabulary! These poems, so very different from my own, speak clearly to me. What a gift!”—Lucille Clifton
"There is an intricate interweaving of themes, symbols, and allusions and leitmotifs that makes The Far Mosque, resonate with a sense of great drama... Ali’s strength lies in that inner music, where meanings reveal their deeper power." -Painted Bride Quarterly
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More About the Author
Kazim Ali was born in the UK to parents of Indian descent. With his family he emigrated to Canada and then the US where he was raised in an Islamic household. He then attended the University at Albany, receiving a BA and an MA in English. Following his graduation, Kazim worked full time as an organizer for a state-wide organization devoted to advocating for greater access to public higher education, funding for the SUNY system, and increased need-based grant aid for students. Following four years of full time organizing and political activity, Kazim returned to his home in the Western New York area and taught in the English Department of Monroe Community College and served as a writer-in-residence at the Just Buffalo Literary Center. Kazim Ali's work has been published in various national journals including jubilat, Barrow Street, The American Poetry Review, and in the Best American Poetry 2007. His first book of poetry, The Far Mosque,' was published by Alice James Books in 2005. Kazim is also the author of a novel, Quinn's Passage,' published by BlazeVox Books. He is founding editor of Nightboat Books.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a jewel,
By sof "sof" (italy) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Far Mosque (Paperback)
Kazim Ali not only indulges in painful minimalism but also somehow creates vivid images in abstract forms. His works are like conceptualist paintings--each one definable yet cryptic in its own oxymoronic sense. Never have I been blessed to read such poetry, never have i seen technique that resembles a whisper. His verses, sometimes italisized, sometimes not, have sound to them like almost all his "musical" pieces in the book. He is clearly an observer of traditionalist forms, and at times uses the ghazal or other schemes to diversify, angle, and deepen the already stunning affect of his 'lyrics'. The meter and the unique breaks in his poetry resemble his meaning: stripping everything to the raw, essential core. The poems seem choppy--but the whole anthology is a story---and they are all circular, returning to themselves, individually and holistically. Not once did I detect any cynicism, nor did I notice any intended romanticism. It just is. It is comfort food for my heart. EAch reading renders me breathless--every time, (And I am an impatient woman).
Excellent work. Worth many, many reads.
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