Real Characters by Allen Forrest. Image courtesy of the artist.
The muse has abandoned me for others—
a scheduling conflict (I am told)
And Apollo only showers acclaim and accolade
on the hesitant, reluctant
crop of Pakistan’s 9/11 English language novelists
with their liberal credentials, hurt countenances:
No “stirrer-up of strife,” no Betrans de Born,
No Mahmood Mamdani among them
No honest-to-God anti-imperialism
only faked nuance
no sestinas, no Altafortes, no besiegements,
only beseechments.
~ Raza Ali Hasan
Raza Ali Hasan was born in Chittagong, and grew up in Indonesia and Pakistan. After moving to the United States, he received an MFA from Syracuse University. He currently lives in Boulder and has taught at the University of Colorado and Iowa State University. Hasan’s poetry collections include ‘Grieving Shias’ (2006) and ‘67 mogul miniatures’ (2008). In a review of the latter collection, Daniel Dissinger wrote that Hasan “constructs a sprawling world that fits in the palm of your hand.”
