num_pages: 80
description: The poems in this captivating collection weave beauty with violence the personal with the historic as they recount the harrowing experiences of the two hundred thousand female victims of rape and torture at the hands of the Pakistani army during the 1971 Liberation War. As the child of Bangladeshi immigrants the poet in turn explores her own losses as well as the complexities of bearing witness to the atrocities these war heroines endured.Throughout the volume the narrator endeavors to bridge generational and cultural gaps even as the victims recount the horror of grief and personal loss. As we read we discover the profound yet fragile seam that unites the fields rivers and prisons of the 1971 war with the poets modern-day hotel or the tragic death of a loved one with the holocaust of a nation.Moving from West Texas to Dubai from Virginia to remote villages in Bangladesh and back again the narrator calls on the legacies of Willa Cather Csar Vallejo Tomas Transtrmer and Paul Celan to give voice to the voiceless. Fierce yet loving devastating and magical at once Seam is a testament to the lingering potency of memory and the bravery of a nations victims. Winner Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award 2014 Winner Binghamton University Milt Kessler Poetry Book Award 2015
language: English
title: Seam
publisher: Southern Illinois University Press