Moniza Alvi's new book is unified by birds. Her creations 'Motherbird' and 'Fatherbird' are inspired by her parents, and by the loss of her father and by his emigration from Pakistan. Among the many bird-related poems are versions of the French poets Jules Supervielle and Saint-John Perse, and poems 'after' the paintings of the Spanish-Mexican surrealist artist Remedios Varo. Blackbird, Bye Bye is Moniza Alvi's first new poetry book since her T.S. Eliot Prize-shortlisted collection At the Time of Partition, published in 2013.
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[A big blousy bird in the nest - the vee of her beak wide open MOTHERBIRD]***
(Bloodaxe Books, 28 June 2018, 64 pages, ebook borrowed from @natpoetrylib via @OverDriveLibs)
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I thought these poems were lovely, unusual, sparse at times and filled with rich, vivid imagery. It is not clear at first but Motherbird and Fatherbird are actually bird-creatures inspired by Alvi's own parents and the poems focus on her father's death and mother's grief. I didn't realise this until I'd read a few poems and their true meaning became clear. I've read a lot of poems that explore death and grief but thought Alvi offered a new and usual take on it. I found these absorbing and very emotional.