Like a Vermeer & Other Poems

Yousuf Zaigham came to America from Pakistan the nation of Faiz Ahmed Faiz and a country/that I left three coup d'etats ago. Readers of his mystical poems in Palace of Rumi will recognize the stance of the ecstatic rebel who can say God you & I were perhaps/not meant for each other but can also speak such delightful lines as these:</p><p>It has been hard as hell trying to make love<br>to every blossoming lettuce-coral<br>swirling acacia & eucalyptus grove<br>every ringed nipple pierced navel<br>pearled tongue inebriated rain lily<br>& tangoing galaxy of your restive<br>brazen Isadora Duncan Creation.</p><p>This kind of Whitmanesque openness to experience continues in the poems of Palace of Rimbaud as well as Palace of Marvin Gaye. Zaigham who was first seduced by poetry in Urdu and now writes in English has become a poet of the world-father husband lover-and enthusiast of the word. You will find welcome here.-<b>Dave Mason</b> author of <I>The Buried Houses</I> and <I>The Country I Remember</I></p><p>From the very first poem with grenadine suns in your tequila sunsets to the line my poems are the only stardust of my ashes to the very last poem where Yousuf Zaigham tells us the poems came like a tempest of miracles budded asters in their rosy florescence this book is a feast of language and poetic diction that defies description. Open <I>Like a Vermeer</I> anywhere and you will enjoy a veritable banquet of poetry that harkens back to the rich literary traditions of Urdu's great poets Ghalib & Josh.-<b>James Ciletti</b> author of <I>At the Crack of Dawn</I></p><p>Zaigham's exuberant chastening poems glory in and indict this world. His voice full-throated capering through the registers is necessary and welcome. I will return to <I>Like a Vermeer and Other Poems</I> repeatedly-<b>Aaron Anstett</b> author of <I>No Accident & Sustenance</I></p>