Description
Poetry. Asian & Asian American Studies. Jewish Studies. Is this the bird way? Where is home? What is the fate of wanderers? Have we all been "elsewhere?" Will truths be revealed to us in the end? In this finely tuned chapbook, the poet uses free verse and form to sing her stories, her history, her geography, her experience as an immigrant who finds rest after loss and upheaval with imagination and passion. With deft use of imagery, language and the senses, she travels and shape-shifts. She weaves in science, mysticism, imagination and myth. We fly from India to Michigan and back, from this world to other in-between states where memory, death, loss, the present, the search for home and the self all sing through several voices, and become a miniature symphony. As Attar tells us through his bird characters in his allegorical rendering of Sufism—"the way is long" so we must persevere to find the truth. We are but "water mixed with dust." The bird-soul can only rest briefly, then it must move on.
Author Bio
Zilka Joseph was born in Mumbai, lived in Kolkata, and now lives in Michigan. Her work is influenced by Indian and Western cultures, and her Bene Israel roots. Her poems have appeared in journals such as Poetry Magazine and The Bombay Literary Magazine, as well as in international anthologies. She was nominated for awards, has participated in festivals, been featured on NPR/Michigan Radio, and podcasts like Rattlecast and Culturico. Her chapbook SPARROWS AND DUST (The Ridgeway Press, 2021) won a Notable Best Indie Book award and was a Notable Asian American Poetry Book. Two of her books, Sharp Blue Search of Flame (Wayne State University Press, 2016) and IN OUR BEAUTIFUL BONES, were Foreword INDIES Prize finalists. The University of Michigan awarded her a Zell Fellowship, the Michael Gutterman award, and the Elsie Choy Lee Scholarship. She is a creative writing coach and manuscript advisor.
Author City: ANN ARBOR, MI USA