Songs of Exile

by Bänoo Zan

The poems in Songs of Exile are not simply about geographical or political exile. They reveal a metaphorical exile from the poet's lost self, the one she left behind in Iran, her place of origin, the one she has struggled to preserve all her life. They reveal concern about the Middle East and the negative associations with Iran; preoccupation with the possibility of reconciliation between the three Abrahamic religions; worries about family back home; and broodings on newly found friends and lovers. In these poems, the political is personal.

Genres: Poetry

148 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2016

Reviews

[Sumaiyya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently finished reading Bänoo Zan's poetry collection titled Songs of Exile. I've rated it 4.5/5 stars!

Zan is a poet from Iran who settled in Canada in 2010. It took her a while to adjust to her new environment and she ended up exploring the literary circles and eventually started her own Shab-e-Sher (Poetry Night in Persian) to add diversity to the community. She recognized the need for a more multicultural literary community and so she took the initiation, and personally, I think this was quite amazing and brave. When I read about her I loved the fact that she believes literature is the gateway to many cultures. It's quite inspiring to me that she read 13 books by Margaret Atwood before moving to Canada. I think that was quite a thoughtful thing to do.

In Songs of Exile, I was drawn to the poems from the start. The language is very captivating and the way the poems really get into your head impressed me. She uses beautiful imagery and religious and cultural references which balance really well. But mostly, I enjoyed the blend of Greek and Arabian/Irani mythology in the poems and the way the different characters/figures acted as metaphors or added many layers to the work.

I guess my favourite in the entire collection is the series of poems titled 'Words'. These poems will be loved by anyone who loves writing, language and words in general. They all had a very special quality that added a deeper meaning to our relationship with language.

I've really learned a lot about writing poetry by reading the poems but I find it hard to describe what they really mean or what kind of theme they can all be bunched into. Sometimes it's really political and addresses multiple issues including gender, ethnicity, colonization and war. A lot is about poetry and the relationship of the poet with the poem and vice versa. And many are about being in exile or in a new place and the experience one derives from it. I felt the collection was very multicultural in its references and style, and it was also really diverse and would appeal to people who come from different backgrounds.

I highly recommend the poetry collection. I felt some poems demanded to be read more than once and many lines compelled me to read them over again.

I want to thank Guernica Editions for sending me a digital copy of the collection in exchange of an honest review. This was done via Net Galley.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this poetry collection on NetGalley and received it free for an honest review. Although some of these poems did not catch with me, there were many I found to be equally moving and profound. It was jarring at times to read about such visceral hardships, written in such a poetic and fluid way, but I loved the juxtaposition and the light that shined through the turmoil.

[Pam Z (Pam's Shenanigans) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a digital copy of Songs of Exile.

"I am the eternal dictator -- colonizing the land of slaughtered dreams, suppressing the voice of nightmares."

It took me a while to really get into this poetry collection - every time I try to pick it back up again, I read a few and stop again. I think my main problem is that I find it hard to connect with a lot of the poems. However, the ones that resonated with me are, ironically, the ones that I needed trigger warnings for. It's hard to not notice how powerful, searing, and poignant some of the poems are in this collection. That's why I'm still going to give it 3 stars!

TW/CW: Graphic descriptions of rape and abuse

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

**I kindly received a copy from Net Gallery and Guernica Editions**

A powerful collection of poetry by Iranian poet Banoo Zan! I am in awe of her prowess, of her seamless ability to string brief, direct phrases and whittle down sentimentality, reflection, loss, hope, love, bitterness so simply about complex, intangible topics. Zan touches upon a myriad of themes in her poetry: Iranian folklore, Greek mythology, religion (clash of religions, religious extremism), self-reflection, confessions of love, despair towards humanity, family, war, to name a few. She writes with the air of a jaded Sufi poet, her tone plaintive or accusatory or reverent depending on the poem. I would say this is a very interesting, engaging read for those who want bare words for the bare instances of life - although I would tell readers who are uncomfortable or offended by attributing God with sex and eroticism to proceed with caution or refrain from reading some of her passages.

I had begun saving snippets of her poetry to quote at first, but then quickly gave up doing so as I kept reading because so many of Zan's lines are so memorable. Here are some I found beautiful:

"You pinned blood's back to earth...my hand is devoid of me" (The Mirage)
"There are seasons between heart and reason" (Yalda)
"The sun whispers in an aside that love is no performance" (Moment)

tl;dr - excellent collection, and I'll be on the lookout for Banoo Zan's future works!

[Naima · Rating 5 out of 5]

** I received this book through NetGalley and Guernica Editions. Thank you to the both of them!**

I can't really make my thoughts coherent enough to give a thorough review to this collection of poetry as I should be able to. Reminiscent of Don't Forget the Couscous, Zan's collection of poetry blends Iranian, Arab, and Greek tradition to create a book of poetry focused on Iranian and Arab experiences, as well as love. Her prose and her poetry are beautiful, and the way she uses adjectives in her sentence structure (sometimes without verbs, which somehow gets the meaning across better) is sharp and beautiful. She brings up several painful topics to the Arab/Muslim community, such as discrimination, doubting faith because you feel unsafe, acid attacks, Charlie Hebdo, and generalization of Arabs and Muslims.

Gorgeous, haunting read that doesn't flinch away from the pain of the world and the pain of love.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

“What is the genre of pain? / I cannot translate it into a story.” Zan is an Iranian poet and translator based in Canada. These poems are full of bloodshed, executions and rape. Yet there are traces of hope, as in the recurring image of the phoenix. Sexual metaphors are frequent and used either negatively or positively – the latter is the case in “Ebadat,” about a dervish’s communion with God. Some of my favorite poems were devoted to individual family members: her father, mother, and two sisters. The best of the bunch, though, is “Home Land,” which opens “My home land, my exile / your robe of deserts and mountains flowing / in the breeze of my breath / singing of impossible embraces across galaxies.” I liked Zan’s use of wordplay, but found the whole collection a little repetitive – twice as long as it needs to be. The inclusion of foreign vocabulary words, though they are footnoted, was also off-putting.

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love poetry, and even write some of my own. As a rule my tastes are fairly eclectic and diverse. I wasn't able to identify with these poems at all. I felt that they were written for a specific audience, and even with the footnotes (should poetry even have footnotes? I know, T.S, Elliot and Ezra pound used them to good effect. But these were tiresome.) I couldn't enjoy them. I'm sure there is an audience somewhere for these poems. I am not that audience.

[lifelike]

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Lines like "Your hand is nature/ turning against itself" [from Words (IV)] kept me compelled and reading. However, overall, the style wasn't my taste. "At war with the world/ at peace with the self-/ have I won or lost?" (from Gord-Äfarïd)

Personally, this book wasn't my cup of tea.

I would recommend this book for anyone who loves spiritual poems, philosophical poems, and love poems.