Tag: Agha Shahid Ali
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The Graph of a Cry
My dissertation is available as a book for academics, libraries, and those who are interested to read more about the phenomenal journey of the American ghazal. This dissertation analyzes the journey of the ancient Arabic poetic form of the ghazal to America to provide insights into transnational poetry and cultural mobility. While the movement of…
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They hand you a box
They hand you a boxFour neat lines joined at supremely perfect right anglesYour body, rounded at the edges, pliable, more flesh than muscleSqueezing yourself into shape you triumph, look you say, I fitSkin compacted into nothingnessCells harnessed to behave One day, unexpectedly you spill outOver the edges, across the linesMass dictating it’s ruleslook they say,…
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What about the letters?
Aneri Pattani writes, “Can teaching mindfulness through smartphones cure America’s loneliness problem?” The study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, involved 153 adults practicing 20-minute guided meditations on their phone each day for two weeks. By the end of the study, those whose meditations focused on developing acceptance and awareness…
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Snow Expected
I was looking up details on the snow we are expecting tomorrow and came across these wonderful pictures of snow in Amsterdam. They are absolutely stunning. I had posted some pictures of the snow we had last winter. This year the viral infection has left me weak and I hope I am able to take…
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Of Diaries & Essays: meditations on memory, what have I lost?
On A Train for A Personal interview. 10 Jan. 2015. 8:33 am train from Schipol to Paris Nord, announcement: “you can travel in this train only if you have reservations.” There is no sunrise yet. The sky is grey; the green of the fields, streetlights, and darkness hangs over the landscape, the train is rushing…
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Poem Unlimited, Augsburg
Over the weekend I attended and spoke at the Poem Unlimited Conference at Augsburg. The venue, the Augsburg University, has a beautiful campus. The trees were in Autumn hues. I was narrated the story of a duck family in the University pond. A ledge was removed from one of the campus buildings so to lessen…
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Paris in the rain
Saturday, January 10, 2015, I was to be in Paris for the day to meet poet and translator Marilyn Hacker. I had many questions about her experience with the ghazal and ghazal poets; she was generous enough to offer her day to me. On Monday 5th I booked my tickets to travel by the Thalys…
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Shahid’s The Half-Inch Himalayas
“Postcard from Kashmir” Kashmir shrinks into my mailbox, my home a neat four by six inches I always loved neatness. Now I hold the half-inch Himalayas in my hand. This is home. And this is the closest I’ll ever be to home. When I return, the colors won’t be so brilliant, the…
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“Royal” by Carol Stone
“Royal” We are one of those long-married couples who do not speak. Especially after our argument on the train to Brighton, we do not speak. For the life of me, I can’t read a timetable, while my husband can. Around us, elderly couples lift pasty faces to sun, and do not speak. I order Earl…
Diligent Candy 