Hardback
February 27, 2013
9780819573575
English
100
9.00 Inches (US)
6.00 Inches (US)
.6 Pounds (US)
$24.95 USD, £18.50 GBP
v2.1 Reference
Electronic book text
February 27, 2013
9780819573582
9780819573575
English
100
9.00 Inches (US)
6.00 Inches (US)
$19.99 USD, £14.95 GBP
v2.1 Reference

Sky Ward

New poems from this poet of "precision and ardor"

Winner of the Ohioana Book Award in Poetry (2014)

Drunk on the sun and the sea, Kazim Ali's new poems swoop linguistically but ground themselves vividly in the daily and real. Both imprisoned by endlessness and dependent on it for nurturing and care, in Sky Ward Ali goes further than ever before in sounding out the spaces between music and silence, between sky and ocean, between human and eternal. "Daily I wish stitched here to live," moans his Prometheus, wondering what release from familiar bondage might actually portend. "So long liberation," his Icarus sings as he plummets from the sky with desperation and grace, ready to unfeather and plunge into the everything-new. Whether in the extended poem-prayer to Alice Coltrane or in the "deleted scenes" and "alternate endings" to his critically acclaimed volume Bright Felon, or in the spirit-infused and multi-faceted lyrics he has become known for, Ali once again reinvents possibilities for the personal lyric and narrative.

About the Author

KAZIM ALI is a poet, essayist, fiction writer, and translator. His books of poetry include The Far Mosque, The Fortieth Day, and Bright Felon. Ali is an associate professor of creative writing and comparative literature at Oberlin College and teaches in the Stonecoast MFA program at the University of Southern Maine.

Reviews

"Through his attempt to fly, Icarus was injured by the heavens, not healed. From this basis in myth, Ali explores the ongoing conflict between religion and homosexuality...In Ali's interpretation of the myth, the rise and fall of Icarus is not a straight line, instead it is a constant plummeting, soaring, and plunging again."—Puerto del Sol

Endorsements

"Beautiful, echoing poetry that finds 'No return home but an eternity of transformation.' Ali has a delicate touch and these poems leave us (for we are reluctant to leave them), playing in space."—Tracie Morris, author of Rhyme Scheme

"Beautiful, echoing poetry that finds 'No return home but an eternity of transformation.' Ali has a delicate touch and these poems leave us (for we are reluctant to leave them), playing in space."—Tracie Morris, author of Rhyme Scheme

"Ali is one of the very few poets now writing dedicated to the enlargement (rather than the abandonment) of the lyric mode. With these new poems, he has opened a wide, new space for the music of what happens and shown us a worthy, if challenging, task for that music."—Donald Revell, author of The Bitter Withy

"In, out, secrecy, exposure. The book is resonant with the poetry of Hafiz and Rumi but stays grounded in the contemporary, especially in its candor, and unease. But then the language and vision is also Romantic and pleasurable, calling to be heard aloud"—Fanny Howe, author of Come and See
Wesleyan University Press
Wesleyan Poetry Series

9780819573575 : sky-ward-ali
Hardback
100 Pages
$24.95 USD
9780819573582 : sky-ward-ali
Electronic book text
100 Pages
$19.99 USD

Other Titles by Kazim Ali

Sukun

Kazim Ali
Sep 2023 - Wesleyan University Press
$40.00 USD - Hardback
$28.00 USD - Paperback / softback

North American Women Poets in the 21st Century

edited by Lisa Sewell, Kazim Ali
Feb 2020 - Wesleyan University Press
$85.00 USD - Hardback
$27.95 USD - Paperback / softback
$22.99 USD - Electronic book text

Inquisition

Kazim Ali
Mar 2018 - Wesleyan University Press
$15.95 USD - Paperback / softback
$12.99 USD - Electronic book text

Other Titles from Wesleyan Poetry Series

Be Brave to Things

Jack Spicer, edited by Daniel Katz
Oct 2023 - Wesleyan University Press
$35.00 USD - Hardback
$27.99 USD - Electronic book text
$26.95 USD - Paperback / softback

The Ruins of Nostalgia

Donna Stonecipher
Oct 2023 - Wesleyan University Press
$28.00 USD - Hardback
$16.95 USD - Paperback / softback

mahogany

erica lewis
Sep 2023 - Wesleyan University Press
$28.00 USD - Hardback
$16.95 USD - Paperback / softback

Other Titles in POETRY / General

Winter Fruit

Dale B.J. Randall
Dec 2025 - University Press of Kentucky
$40.00 USD - Hardback
$12.95 USD - Electronic book text

Feeding the Ghosts

Rahul Mehta
Mar 2024 - University Press of Kentucky
$44.95 USD - Hardback
$21.95 USD - Electronic book text
$21.95 USD - Paperback / softback

The Safety of Small Things

Jane Hicks
Jan 2024 - Fireside Industries, an imprint of University Press of Kentucky
$29.95 USD - Hardback
$19.95 USD - Electronic book text
$19.95 USD - Paperback / softback