Theophanies, selected as the Editors Choice for the 2022 Alice James Award, is a testament to women's capacity for piercing and musical exegesis.
What does it mean to have a woman’s body when that body has been hailed a vessel for the divine? Braiding the scriptures of the Qur’an and the Bible, Theophanies explores the complexities and spectacles of gender, faith, and family by unraveling the age-old idea that seeing is believing. Through art and music, Pakistani history, and scriptural stories, these poems speak back against time to the matriarchs of the Abrahamic faiths, the mothers at the heart of sacred history.
Stitched throughout is longing―for mothers, angels, and signs from the divine. In the absence of matrilineal elders in her family, the speaker turns to the archetypal “mother of nations” for whom she is named, Sarah, and her sent-away “sister,” Hajar, to better reckon with her place in the mother line.
Sarah Ghazal Ali is a Pakistani American writer. She is the author of the poetry collection Theophanies (Alice James Books, 2024), winner of the GLCA New Writers Award and a California Book Award, and a finalist for the Kate Tufts Discovery Award. A Stadler and Kundiman Fellow, Sarah is the poetry editor for West Branch and an Assistant Professor of English at Macalester College. She lives and teaches in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
weaving the holy scriptures of the qur’an and the bible with a kaleidoscope of life experiences, sarah ghazal ali’s theophanies is an astonishingly beautiful debut.
ali takes us on a poetic journey through faith, desire, family, and the way these aspects of life are shaped by the historical, spiritual, and patriarchal expectations placed upon women. she seeks the stories of women of faith and reclaims their place alongside the men who often overshadow them, affording a holy attention to the origins of their names and the history of their experiences as she weaves them with her own.
theophanies is among the most affecting and gorgeous poetry i’ve ever read, and it binds together a history of womanhood into a stunning tapestry of grace, understanding, and companionship for those who came before her and to those who will come after. this is a must-read collection by one of my new favorite poets, and one that will haunt me for a long, long time.
personal favorites include “my faith gets grime under its nails”, “temporal”, “story of the cranes”, “self portrait as epiphany”, “daughter”, and “apotheosis”.
At once scathing and tender, Sarah Ghazal Ali’s "Theophanies” dances between devotion and blasphemy. Ali writes in the style of the Urdu ghazal, which have a lauded tradition in Urdu poetry, with phrases so rich and elegant they are known to inspire tears and applause from the crowds that gather to hear them. Ali does tremendous justice to this tradition, with heart-wrenching poems that are deeply profound yet accessible.
Ali mixes modern feminist sensibilities with centuries-old narratives of religious history that have always been told through the male gaze. She inserts herself into the stories of female saints of Islam and Christianity, a modern voyeur who links her personal past to navigate their shared sisterhood and lack of agency as they obeyed God’s command.
Ali also poses challenging, perhaps even controversial, questions to scripture: can the brutality of animal sacrifice truly be a celebration? How is a father’s supreme familial position diminished when he mistreats his wife? In other poems, she delves into themes of pre-marital sex, suicide, and women's powerlessness and subordination. She also veers into politics, not shying from a female take on Pakistan’s origin story.
Her poetry is disturbing and thought-provoking, yet her faith does not waver. Her work brings believers of the same God together, while still allowing room to question.This is the kind of feminist poetry that you want to read and re-read, each time peeling back layer after layer of meaning. A cultural commentary as much as a religious one, and personal enough to connect with the reader's own heart, as it did mine.
While this is a beautiful debut collection, I admit that I found Theophanies rather difficult to read. This is not the fault of Ali by any means and is more of a me problem, specifically that I didn’t understand a lot of the religious and cultural references. This did impact my overall enjoyment to some extent, though I learned a fair bit as I reflected alongside the poet.
My understanding is that Ali was following the ghazal form for a handful of these poems, which is often found in Arab and Central Asian poetry. Perhaps more importantly, though, are the recurring themes in this collection. From what I was able to gather, she took particular interest in a modern exploration of womanhood in relation to faith and spirituality (gesturing especially toward the Quran and the Bible). I was really taken to Ali’s command of language, even if I didn’t fully follow what she was referencing.
I think these poems will really resonate with those who are deeply familiar with the Quran and/or the Bible. I have no doubt that this is a richly layered collection that will be greatly appreciated by those who will understand the references.
“I have no interest in the aviary you keep of my names. The one bright gift of my life is that I was witnessed. The only thing God asks of me is to bear it.”
- “Magdalene Diptych”
I took a stab in the dark with this one after the cover caught my eye in the library, and it turned out to be well worth the read. Theophanies artfully juxtaposes Quranic and biblical consciousness, drawing creative breath from the women of sacred history—Sarah, Hajar, Maryam, Magdalene—and shaping it into a lithe, evocative, visceral, honest, and tastefully sensuous poetic voice; a vision (vision itself being an important theme) that compellingly navigates the interstices of earnest spiritual devotion and the so-called “profane” experiences of incarnate life—particularly life as a woman. Perhaps the best praise I can give is that I found it surprisingly relatable, despite my having practically nothing in common with the author. Among my personal favorites of the collection are “Temporal,” “Daughter Triptych,” “The Guest,” and (first place for me) “Magdalene Diptych”.
we discussed language and its limits, faith, writing into silences, and much more. this immediately became one of my favorite collections of poetry masha'Allah.
the poems weave together partition, Ibrahim, Sarah, Hagar, Maryam, Christ, peace be upon them all, the Prophet ﷺ, Mary Magdalene, embodied faith, womanhood and motherhood, the Qur’an, the Bible, ghazals, and more.
An ambitious debut poetry collection with Quaranic and Biblical references. The persona poems of Magdalene and Hajar follow the thread of matrilineage. Women are mentioned, witnessed and honored in this collection and men mentioned only in passing, almost as a means to reverse the language of redactions in the original religious texts. It is an interesting concept and I love that it challenges the very grounds of what many religions indoctrinate about women and the feminine.
The language in these poems is wonderful and fluid. But there were many times I felt untethered and ungrounded on the setting of these poems. It is possible I lack the religious background to fully understand all the stories referenced, but that does not mean I didnt enjoy this collection. Rather, I found these poems as a starting point to maze through and learn more, to ask questions and to ponder.
Poems of note:
Fatal Music Le Viol, Rene Magritte, 1934 Magdalene Diptych
Evocative and beautiful, Sarah Ghazal Ali’s Theophanies is full of rich and heady prose. Exploring themes of life, death, birth, sex, violence, womanhood, and faith, each poem and each line and each word is written with care and thought, and intention. Ali is unafraid to experiment, making bold and brilliant choices in style and phrase, leading to a unique and engaging reading experience. Each word had weight, like you could roll it around in your mouth. I was impressed with this work, and I can’t wait to read more prose from the author.
Ummmmm, palatable? felt like something white liberal apologists would enjoy (because it comes from the equivalence of islamic liberal?). but maybe i just don't understand, i'm not familiar with the form or the content, and i didn't even read it closely. I picked it up because it was in the new book catalog and had such a high rating.
The sentiments here strike me as not much different from those commonly expressed by first-generation children of the diaspora; they mostly involve struggles to connect with their Heritage™ (while stay largely unaware and perform for the White Gaze). I'm not saying it's unimportant or uninteresting—just that I've seen so much of it.
In "the West," hair covering/headscarf sits awkwardly among religious teaching, patriarchal oppression, femme body (non-)autonomy, identities of belonging, and contradictory social expectations. Is it subversive to wear it? Is it subversive not to? Whose rules are you following when you do, and whose when you don’t? It’s a whole mess I’m still trying to untangle. This book (which I skimmed) answers none of my questions.
As I mentioned "white liberals," my current hypothesis is: at best, they might want to see people inhabiting alternative belief/culture-informed systems as resistance to homogenization under capitalism and imperialism—which they themselves find alienating and oppressive. At worst, they might want to see minorities "know their place," not act confused (by which i mean not to confuse them with assimilation and chameleoning), and perform acceptance of values that align with their own, such as the unquestionable inheritance of culture, family, and meritocracy.
A nice Friday night read. I found some of the poems very beautifully written and as I got to know the voice, I really liked her way of thinking things through the lines. I found some of the more experimental forms or those more closely aligned with formal constraints a bit more interesting. There was a tendency toward drama or something that bugs me… pending book club for final thoughts.
This was due at the library before I finished it but I plan to buy a copy and read it again, and expect to change my rating to five stars. The poems are so clear, vivid, visceral and delicate. I love the tenderness and yearning in many of them.
This book is absolute fire! Many times when I read poems that have a religious tie-in they have a more surreal focus. But Sarah does something that is sacred in its own way by examining what it means to be a woman apart from the divine, but also crafted from it, and how that reflects the daily life and expectations within the gender. It’s absolutely stunning, and if you haven’t read her poem, “My Faith Gets Grime under Its Nails” please go google it. Every time I read it I get chills. I was going to include it here, but I wanted to share a couple of other poems that I tabbed. If you haven’t picked this book up yet definitely add it to your list, grab it from your favorite retailer, and request it at your local library. It is easily a favorite of mine.
Theophanies is aptly named--this is a book that distills the divine into tangible, domestic moments. We see a multitude of women(who are in some ways, a singular, mythological woman, "aurat") move through domains most familiar and mundane to them, following them across birth, childhood, marriage, doctor's offices and back again, to birth. Woven into these domestic spaces is defiance, grief, love, rage, longing, awe, and even horror. Ali's language moves exquisitely through all these interwoven narratives:
"From beyond scripture,/she returns to crawl through my throat.Her involuntary sound a revelation/I'm frightened. I'm awestruck." - Temporal
"all my rooms are greening in wait pull back my fallen shroud see how well I bear the burden
a child
come sigh for once in me" - O Gabriel
This is truly a book of poems were one bleeds into the next effortlessly, and many storylines overlap so it's difficult to pick favorites, but some of the poems I return to most often are the 'Story of the Cranes", "Magdalene", and "Matrilineal (Recovered)". This is genuinely the most devastating and imaginative book of poems I've encountered in a minute, will definitely be keeping tabs on this poet's forthcoming work.
I’ve been excited to read this chapbook since Ali’s article “the pen the throat the ear: on ghazals” published in Poetry Magazine. Ali has shown herself to be a masterful poet. I cannot wait for more of her work though I will be rereading her old works to keep me occupied til then.
Favorite lines: “How hungry my gaze is to swell, but the angels are indifferent to me.”
“Land of the Pious, pigless, and pissed-upon.”
Favorite poem: “When Nabra Hassanen Wakes Up In Jannah”
A lovely human, embodied exploration of faith. “The one bright / gift of my life is that I was / witnessed. The only thing / God asks of me is to bear it.”
What a powerful, gripping, and insightful poetry collection! Precise in its construction and abundant in its language, images, reference, and metaphors.
At the intersection of accidental and borrowed dialogues, there exists a holiness uncovered as a pre-existing condition and it’s there you may find Sarah Ghazal Ali’s poems as they have been carried into and out of, as they have been consoled for and cared for within, the collection Theophanies. These are musics of temporary permanence, and I now, as you soon, will not refrain from our mild but wholly offered singing. Precious and profane, mistake and miracle, these poems know praise as theft and ask the body to unfollow its gut. As a reader, I am always struck by loss in a way that makes me present, and, while I was struck no less different in the open places that Ghazal Ali closes with their housed verse, the queried losses made a trinity of new interrogations. The first loss of a language that uses sound to be seen, the double loss of birth, and the past loss of being given a name you can’t be called. I was present and was also soon to be made present. By its end, its beginning had restarted the proxy resurrections of its revelations, and I plainly understood and beautifully misunderstood what it meant or did not mean to be under those lowest gods that gift clay to any prayerful form bent from its time as a shape. Theophanies is a vessel that travels unveiled in a vision all should have.
A strong first collection with deep ruminations on the Abrahamic stories involving Sarah and Hajar. There is a deep elegance and thoughtfulness to lines which feel as if they are being spoken by a religious speaker contending with the ironies of being culturally locked out of faith leadership for being a woman. The variations on the ghazal form were powerful and well-formed. A challenge, though, for non-Muslims or those who haven't read the Koran is that there is a cryptic quality to the scripture references that takes some homework, but looking up these references and words in Urdu or Arabic is worthwhile. My one criticism is related to this cryptic quality--I wish there were a few more political specifics to cling to for interpretation on the collection as a whole. I can see why the voice may want to be circumspect and say a thing carefully, why that might be the natural voice for these speakers, but it left me looking for more coherence between the poems, rather than the roundabout-seeming retellings of the same poem. In this way I suppose the collection falls prey to the pitfalls of a first collection. The mission of this is that it is the first, not that it has a specific message, story, or life to tell.
my favorite poem from this collection- "Apotheosis"
"Apotheosis" operates in tandem with other poems in Theophanies through its exploration of matriarchal figures and the complexities of faith. For instance, poems like "Mother of Nations" and "Sarai" also delve into the narratives of biblical women, examining their roles and voices within sacred texts. This thematic cohesion creates a dialogue between the poems, enriching the reader's understanding of the multifaceted experiences of women in religious histories.
Some excerpts I've saved: "My faith is feminine, breasted and irregularly bleeding.
My faith gets grime under its nails" --- "When I look in the lake, who looks back
is a sister self: O, little i—I
carry you as you carry who I am waiting to be." --- "Mine an umbilical affliction without cure. Do you think I asked to eavesdrop
through inherited eyes? Recite to me a single memory not manufactured." --- "So much could lie beyond the lattice of this language that I finger but cannot unlatch... How sweet the fruit of a soil I was born beginning to leave "
3.5 stars - some poems were really wonderful. Some, I fear, are beyond my ken, both because of the style or structure of the poems (I admit I prefer more straightforward poetry) and because I’m not well educated on Bible/Koran. But I’m glad I read it.