Echoes in Exile (Paperback)

by Sheema Kalbasi (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Kalbasi's poetry is generous and abundantly human, passionate and compassionate. -- Jimmy Santiago Baca, author, September ,2006

Kalbasi's poetry is generous and abundantly human, passionate and compassionate. --Jimmy Santiago Baca, author, September ,2006

Many are the feelings and sensations echoing nearly overflowing from this moving collection. Like the intimate bond the author herself describes as connecting the world of dreams and the world of reality, her verses run on the thin edge between a subtle series of opposites. Resignation and hope, sorrow and joy, loneliness and communion, loss and conquest, desire and aversion, war and peace: all these confront each other, repel each other but never separate completely, yet interlace weaving the arduous story of the poet. By using words now sweet but stern, now sharp but responsive however always in a straight diction, without frills Sheema Kalbasi retraces her past, the hard trip of a young girl who fled from her tormented home country, that modern Iran she still likes to call the Ancient Persia, to search for a new home, a new life, her freedom. So Mighty Are the Stories ... but likewise she can look at the present and the future with neat realism, as well as with intact wonder, so that her Mel lowly-poetical voice streams with messages not only of despondency and denunciation, but also of courage and anticipation. These Echoes In Exile then turn into the author s chant of liberation, revealing her self-sustaining force before the hatred and the division ubiquitous in the world and afflicting above all her beloved Middle East. From line to line the refugee, the nobody she used to name herself at the time of her flight, they all show up in their vigor and radiance, disclosing to us the true identity of the poet and her discreet, unique sensuality not screamed out, just whispered. So a clear-cut figure and a transparent character finally come to light simply those of a woman deeply able and willing to love. ALESSIO ZANELLI --Alessio Zanelli

Winner 2008 National Indie Excellence award in category of social change. --National Indie Excellence Award

Product Description
Echoes in Exile is a rich collection of poetry describing Iran and Middle Eastern politics. The poems are intimate, painted in a form that makes the unthinkable familiar. Sheema Kalbasi is the first poet of Middle Eastern heritage who demonstrates her concerns for the mistreatments of religious and ethnic minorities. She humanizes the Iranian people to the international community. This book can be viewed as a memoir and be displayed alongside Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran or Marjan Satrapi's Persepolis. Sheema believes that in light of the current political situation between Iran and the United States her words bring an important message to be shared by both cultures. Her work as a poet and translator confirm that the beauty and strength to convey the vast spectrum of emotions through language are exclusive to no country or culture.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 85 pages
• Publisher: P.R. A. Publishing; 1st edition (November 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972770372
• ISBN-13: 978-0972770378
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,030,529 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A valuable gift to the world of poetry, March 8, 2007

By	T. Ehrami (The Hague, The Netherlands) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Impressive work, June 4, 2007

By	Reader Views "www.readerviews.com" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

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."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Supernatural Ex, July 10, 2007

By	The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers (RAWSISTAZ.com and BlackBookReviews.net) - See all my reviews

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