Seam (Crab Orchard Series in Poetry)
"Why call any of it back?Tarfia Faizullah asks in her gorgeous and powerful debut collection,Seam. In poems made more harrowing for what's not said--the poet's elegant and wise restraint--we confront the past and its aftermath in the lives of women interrupted by violence and brutality and loss. It wasn't enough light to see clearly by, she tells us,but I stillturned my face toward it.Faizullah is a poet of brave and unflinching vision andSeamis a beautiful and necessary book." --Natasha Trethewey, United States Poet Laureate"Seam reaffirms that imagination is the backbone of memory, the muscular fiber that enables us to re-grasp our humanity. With patience and immaculate lyric precision, and with sublime attention to language and the courage to interrogate her privilege and curiosity, Faizullah twines a seam where the wounds are re-membered, fingers quivering, spooling, and unspooling what we know of healing. This is a powerful debut, a reminder that some things should perhaps never be forgiven, a poignant record set against forgetfulness."   --Khaled Mattawa"How thin the seam between this fierce book and all the poet's countrypeople who haven't lived to read it. Faizullah has made a courageous and shaming book. I hope this book will be translated everywhere."--Jean Valentine, author ofBreak the Glass"This is a poetry of news--where brutality, desire, and beauty combine to form a rich testament of what poetry can do: to sing and disturb us awake, and leave us feeling more alive than ever before. Faizullah's debut collection of poems is simply a triumph--it's pure fire in your hands." --Aimee Nezhukumatathil, author ofLucky Fish