Sunday, September 10, 2023 “Sukun” by Kazim Ali
The world is wound
Around me wound
That blessing that approaches
Reproach that world that would
Wind wood wind wound
How thunder would sunder
The sound there sown there
Is shown shone sewn
To a one that wood
Remain remains still
Won in the world could
Will I one will I shunned
Son soon swoon sukun
About the Poet
Kazim Ali is a poet, novelist, and essayist whose work explores themes of identity, migration, and the intersections of cultural and spiritual traditions. His poetry is known for its lyrical and expressive language, as well as its close attention to the spiritual and the visceral, and the deep language play that is both musical and plain spoken.
Born in the United Kingdom to Muslim parents of Indian, Iranian and Egyptian descent, Ali was raised in the Buffalo suburb of Williamsville. He received a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Albany-SUNY, and an M.F.A. from New York University. One of the most prolific voices of his literary generation, he is the author of 20 books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, the most recent of which is “Sukun: New and Selected Poems” published on September 5th by Wesleyan University Press. This poem is the final and title poem of the collection.
In Arabic, “Sukun” means serenity or calm, and a sukun is also a form of punctuation in Arabic orthography that denotes a pause over a consonant.
The Poem of the Week feature is curated by literary legacy awardee R.D. Pohl.