new-old poem. the first to exist in the world as a published thing beyond and outside of my first book, Theophanies. strange. this was written the summer of 2022 at @communityofwriters , pre book in the world, pre baby. the last line now feels prescient for my life in ways that make me very sad. thanks for reading 🤍
My debut poetry collection THEOPHANIES has a COVER! If you want to call it haunting, mesmerizing, or beautiful, I won’t stop you because IT IS and I love it so dearly. Thank you to the folks at @alicejamesbooks for bringing this book to life, & @mrdanhillier for letting your art grace this cover.
If you’d like to preorder a signed copy, you can do so now from beloved @pegasusbooks (🔗 in bio!). Pre-orders are incredibly important—for small presses, authors, and booksellers alike. Please preorder if you can, and if not, I would love if you’d request the book from your nearest library.
Happy October I’m feeling so 🥹❤️🔥🌷💐🍃
THEOPHANIES / ALICE JAMES BOOKS / JANUARY 2024 🔪
i’m a private person, but we’ve entered the last ten nights of Ramadan, and i believe deeply in two things: miracles and the power of community. as some of you may know, my daughter was diagnosed with a rare genetic syndrome soon after her first birthday. this syndrome predisposes her to bone marrow failure and leukemia. her most recent tests show some concerning developments, which means what we’ve feared for a few years now is suddenly in motion. she is very likely going to need a stem cell/bone marrow transplant soon—as in, as soon as next month. at this time, she has no matches in the national stem cell registry, and a full match is her best chance at a procedure that could not only save her life, but allow her to live it, fully, for years to come inshallah. the registry is predominantly white, and POC are far less likely to have matches as a result. if you are between the ages of 18-35, and especially if you are Asian or a person of color more broadly—please consider getting swabbed to see if you’re a match for my girl. donating is surprisingly simple, and there’s a link in my bio to request a cheek swab kit in the mail. if you can’t, please share this request widely with your friends and family, and please pray for my daughter. her name means sky. she is my whole world, and your prayers widen what’s possible for us. thank you, thank you 🌷 —Sarah
I have three poems in the spring issue of The Poetry Review @thepoetrysociety —here’s one, which is in conversation with, and draws its title from, “For love,” by Jean Valentine. Always I am thinking of beauty and grief, always the world overwhelms with beauty and grief. I am thinking daily of that Amy Hempel story: “when danger approaches, sing to it.” I can’t tell if recent poems are trying to be balms or songs but they dutifully carry what my body and spirit can’t. Thank you, as ever, for reading 🌷
Happy National Poetry Month from Minnesota Writers Respond! We celebrate with a reading by Sarah Ghazal Ali, Pakistani American writer and author of the poetry collection THEOPHANIES. Before Sarah reads her poem "Slow Violence," she quotes Iraqi-American poet Dunya Mikhail, who says that the role of the poet is to be an x-ray and that poetry is a diagnostic tool. Ali invites us into her reading where she is "just trying to speak as clearly and say the thing as clearly as possible."
Minnesota Writers Respond was a multi-author public literary event, an evening of witness and repair in response to the federal occupation in Minnesota. Created by @jessnordell and presented in partnership with the Loft Literary Center and Milkweed Books, with all proceeds benefiting the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota.
To make a donation to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, visit link in bio!
#MinnesotaWritersRespond #literaryactivism #mnwriters
1. how i feel (obliterated)
2. what i’d like to feel again (easy, abundant joy)
3. what i’m reading (linda pastan)
thank you all for your love and prayer and support and care and wisdom and understanding in this season of life 🌷
Assalamu’alaikum!
A beloved young member of our community is in need of us. In these final days of Ramadan, we are holding firm to two truths: that Allah is capable of miracles, and that the strength of this Ummah lies in how we show up for one another.
This is super easy and free to do — please follow the instructions on flyer.
If you are between the ages of 18–35—especially if you are Asian or from communities of color—please consider getting swabbed to see if you are a match. Representation in donor registries is already low for our communities, and your action could life saving.
May Allah accept from each of you who contribute to this or share this, multiply your intentions, and make you a means of healing for others.
happy second birthday to Theo, my first book ⚜️ writing and publishing Theophanies changed my life! i’m not who i was when this was released, and i don’t know what’s next, or who i’ll be. one pocket of beauty i hold close is that this book exists and that it has, bewilderingly, been read and shared. thank you judges and readers, thank you bookstores and libraries, thank you educators, thank you all. as an offering—scroll to the end for one of my best unpublished poems yet.
I had a transformative, tender experience in London this past weekend, visiting to celebrate being a finalist for the @forwardprizes Jerwood Prize for Best First Collection. While I didn’t win, I met the most incredible poets, walked around in a grateful daze, and learned just how vibrant the UK’s poetry landscape is. What a gift to be read overseas, to be invited and celebrated in this way. I’ll never forget it. Thank you @the87press for championing Theophanies across the pond. Thank you @forwardprizes for seeing my work. Thank you, little poems—I put everything I had in you, and you continue to give back in ways I couldn’t have dreamed 🤍
still in disbelief to have won a California Book Award for my debut collection of poems—an award that has previously been received by the likes of Etel Adnan, Joan Didion, John Steinbeck, &&&. here’s a snippet from my first ever acceptance speech (!!) where you can hear the most californian thing about me: my vocal fry. thank you to God and to all the women who made me 💫
i have been in a fog for a long time and it continues to be very hard for me to be present / focus / snap out of autopilot. but one remarkably deep pocket of joy has been my camera. film photography has helped me slow down and look more than once, however imperfect my seeing and framing and imagining. i am not good at this lol but it’s been so healing to take photos sparingly and carefully for my own pleasure. some snippets here from time in london and chicago this year 🪷 also—so special to turn a corner in the Tate Modern and see this line (last image) from Tourmaline as part of an exhibit. i first encountered these words at the Kundiman retreat last June and have repeated them to myself often, since. may such ease be on the horizon
it has been so, so special seeing @jej_sen ’s debut poetry collection We Contain Landscapes make its mark on the world. i’m honored to have read with Patrycja twice now to celebrate the book in Chicago & Minneapolis, and to have interviewed her for BOMB Magazine @bombmag ⚡️interview is live, link in bio—come celebrate with me this brilliant writer and thinker and artist, who answered each question with depth and wisdom—and then get a copy of the book :)
