The Fortieth Day
By Kazim Ali
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About this ebook
From the Bible to the Quaraan, the fortieth day symbolizes the last moment before deliverance, a moment in time when a supplicant or prophet or stormbeaten passenger knows there is no state “after,” but finally accepts the present state as a permanent one.
In The Fortieth Day, Kazim Ali follows the fractured narratives and moving lyrics of his debut collection, The Far Mosque, with a deeply spiritual and meditative book exploring the rhetoric of prayer.
Kazim Ali was born in the United Kingdom and raised in an Islamic household. He holds degrees from the University at Albany and New York University. He lives in Oberlin, Ohio.
Kazim Ali
Kazim Ali was born in the United Kingdom and has lived transnationally in the United States, Canada, India, France, and the Middle East. His books encompass multiple genres, including several volumes of poetry, novels, and translations. He is currently a professor of literature at the University of California, San Diego. His newest books are a volume of three long poems entitled The Voice of Sheila Chandra and a memoir of his Canadian childhood, Northern Light: Power, Land, and the Memory of Water.
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The Fortieth Day - Kazim Ali
THE FORTIETH DAY
[image: cover]Copyright © 2008 by Kazim Ali
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
08 09 10 11 7 6 5 4 3 2
For information about permission to reuse any material from this book please contact The Permissions Company at www.permissionscompany.com or e-mail permdude@eclipse.net.
Publications and programs by BOA Editions, Ltd.—a not-for-profit corporation under section 501 (c) (3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code—are made possible with the assistance of grants from the Literature Program of the New York State Council on the Arts; the Literature Program of the National Endowment for the Arts; the County of Monroe, NY; the Lannan Foundation for support of the Lannan Translations Selection Series; the Sonia Raiziss Giop Charitable Foundation; the Mary S. Mulligan Charitable Trust; the Rochester Area Community Foundation; the Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester; the Steeple-Jack Fund; the Ames-Amzalak Memorial Trust in memory of Henry Ames, Semon Amzalak and Dan Amzalak; and contributions from many individuals nationwide. See Colophon on page 80 for special individual acknowledgments.
Cover Design: Lisa Mauro
Cover Art Photograph: Rachel Eliza Griffiths
Interior Design and Composition: Richard Foerster
Manufacturing: Thomson-Shore
BOA Logo: Mirko
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ali, Kazim, 1971–
The fortieth day: poems / by Kazim Ali. — 1st ed.
p. cm. — (American poets contiuum series; no. 110)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-934414-04-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
I. Title. II. Title: 40th day.
PS3601.L375F67 2007
811'.6—dc22
2007038074
BOA Editions, Ltd.
Nora A. Jones, Executive Director/Publisher
Thorn Ward, Editor/Production
Peter Conners, Editor/Marketing
A. Poulin, Jr., Founder (1938–1996)
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
1
Lostness
Morning Prayer
Dear Father, Dear Sound
Dear Sunset, Dear Avalanche
Mouth
The Art of Breathing
The Far Mosque
Rope
Cave
Chasm