(Reviewed by JD Jung)
“my father spared my eyes from Saddam’s sins
so I could experience real horror,
torture in the hands of my parent
searing my skin at the age of seven
I found his redemption—
why can’t I find mine?”
(Excerpt from “White Shroud”)
In 1990, young Ali Nuri was forced to flee Iraq with his family, along with thousands of other Shi’a’s. The alternative was to be tortured and killed by Saddam Hussein’s forces. They crossed the desert and stayed in overcrowded, unsanitary refugee camps waiting with hope that their asylum requests would be granted. Four years later, his family was finally able to emigrate to the United States in. However, his life as a nomad did not end there.
Rain and Embers is a memoir, but in poetic form. Free verse with different structures, this poignant collection of short poems kept me captivated from start to finish.
Nuri’s feelings as a displaced person weave through his writing. He also expresses conflicted feelings on family (as can be seen above) and culture as well as views on evil, war, hypocrisy, and even love. Though personal, many poems reflect on our global predicament. What really hit me hard though, was how Nuri can dig deep into his soul and tap into painful memories. He visits those places where most of us refuse to go.
As a rule, I am not a fan of poetry. In fact, when I agreed to read Rain and Embers, I thought it was a memoir in prose. So, when I discovered the genre of this book, I was initially disappointed. But as I read the very first poem, I realized that I would be embarking on a totally different experience.
The collection will continue to stay with me and I think it will do the same for other readers also.
