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Book

Something about living

Call Number

  • 811 T914 (CEN, OSH)

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Edition

First edition.

Publication Information

Akron, Ohio : The University of Akron Press, 2024.

Physical Description

81 pages ; 23 cm.

Summary

"It's nearly impossible to write poetry that holds the human desire for joy and the insistent agitations of protest at the same time, but Lena Khalaf Tuffaha's gorgeous and wide-ranging new collection Something About Living does just that. Her poems interweave Palestine's historic suffering, the challenges of living in this world full of violence and ill will, and the gentle delights we embrace to survive that violence. Khalaf Tuffaha's elegant poems sing the fractured songs of Diaspora while remaining clear-eyed to the cause of the fracturing: the multinational hubris of colonialism and greed. This collection is her witness to our collective unraveling, vowel by vowel, syllable by syllable. "Let the plural be a return of us" the speaker of "On the Thirtieth Friday We Consider Plurals" says and this plurality is our tenuous humanity and the deep need to hang on to kindness in our communities. In these poems Khalaf Tuffaha reminds us that love isn't an idea; it is a radical act. Especially for those who, like this poet, travel through the world vigilantly, but steadfastly remain heart first. -Adrian Matejka, author of Somebody Else Sold the World"--

Notes

"Winner of the 2022 Akron Poetry Prize chosen by Adrian Matejka"--Back cover.

Contents

  • Transit
  • I. Variations on a last chance
  • Portraits of light
  • Beit Anya
  • Dialogic
  • When the sky is no longer
  • Maritime nocturne
  • A single word: Home
  • Fragments from a sudden crescendo
  • Threads
  • On the thirtieth Friday we consider plurals
  • First-generation
  • II. Enter here
  • To be self-evident
  • This day our daily bread
  • In case of emergency
  • Envelope
  • In Palestine there
  • On translation
  • Triptych
  • Maqluba
  • Dendrology
  • Notes from the Civil Discourse Committee
  • Iconic
  • Sfumato
  • Long distance
  • Other words for blue
  • Madwoman Ghazal
  • Slipshape
  • III. Letter to June Jordan in September
  • Tantoura redux
  • Apricots
  • Gloria
  • Autocorrect
  • Zaghareed
  • Welcome
  • Golden
  • Crowdsourced
  • Dukka
  • Notes and acknowledgments.

Subjects

Genres

Poetry.