Kazim Ali Audience Q&A at Bowdoin College, October 19, 2006
Kazim answering audience questions live at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, October 19, 2006.
Kazim Ali
Kazim Ali at Bowdoin College
Kazim Ali recorded live at Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, October 19, 2006, and made possible by a grant from the Davis Family Foundation.
Gallery
You came to the desert, illiterate, spirit-ridden, intending to starve The sun hand of the violin carving through space the endless landscape Acres of ochre, the dust-blue sky, or the strange young man beside you peering into “The Man Who Taught William Blake Painting in His Dreams” You’re thinking: I […]
Renunciation
The books were all torn apart, sliced along the spines Light filled all the openings that she in her silence renounced Still: her handwriting on the papers remembered us to her The careful matching of the papers’ edges was a road back One night Muhummad was borne aloft by a winged horse Taken […]
The River Cloud
On paper, on the sky, on the river’s mad meniscus I’ve drawn a blank Remaindered against the banks, pressed there by the current The river dispersing into the light gray Cloud me down by the river edged with willow The smoke of the river cloud canticles A thought river […]
Source
In the brain, a silver window Where the sky evaporates— Then condenses to an enveloped name Sealed with an unsigned letter. Dickinson’s house: a breeze coming from the inside Sounds bury themselves deep in the wood-work. When a Scholar pauses by a closed door She may not be listening […]
The Studio
Great northern window and sheets of light. Wine has evaporated in the glass, leaving a burgundy crust. How shall I find you? My travel case is packed and sitting by the […]
Departure
My last evening spent wandering along the docks. By the foot-path, great iron rings. Here is where the boats moor when the water rises. The clouds gather themselves tightly together as dervishes do after a period of whirling. This should be a black and white film, where I am […]