The Moon that Turns You Back by Hala Alyan “blurs boundaries and borders between place, time, and poetic form” (cover copy). The poems are beautifully rendered and pulse with emotion; they look inside and out into the world. This poem, “Half-Life in Exile” is representative of a major theme in the collection, but the form and structure of the poems varies from rather traditional to experimental. I’m loving the read.
The Moon that Turns You Back by Hala Alyan (Ecco, 2024)
Other reviews under the “witness” umbrella that may interest you include:
Almond Blossoms & Beyond by Mahmoud Darwish, trans. by Mohammad Shaheen (here)
Songs of Exile by Bänoo Zan (here)
Alien Correspondents by Antony Di Nardo (here)
[…] by Fady Joudah (here)
A Crash Course in Molotov Cocktails by Halyna Kruk (here)
from Sarajevo with Sorrow by Goran Simić, translated by Amela Simić (here)
Poetry is Blood by Keith Garebian (here)
The Sleep Orchard: A Response to Arshile Gorky by Amy Dennis (here)
Kathryn MacDonald 