Soliloquy with the Ghosts in Nile

Author: Hussain Ahmed

Publisher: Black Ocean (2022)

The war Hussain Ahmed accounts here is both physical and psychological, and the survivor within these poems uses his voice as a way to tell the stories of those who were lost. The experimental poems track grief as it extends from the personal “I” to a larger community that grapples to find connections with places that are no longer in existence. These are poems that must resist the danger of fear in order to ensure that the victims are not forgotten, resulting in a powerful result is a collection of survival stories that insist on being told.

“Soliloquy is a book of poetry that inhabits a transitional realm that is both emotional and physical. The poems contain a familiar yet transcending character, as though they recognize the wounds we bear during our daily encounters yet do not perceive. Hussain re-imagines grief, encouraging us to see the aesthetics of anxiety.”

–Jumoke Verissimo