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Agha Shahid Ali

Agha Shahid Ali

Agha Shahid Ali

Born: '1949' • Died: 8 December 2001

A Kashmiri American Muslim, Agha Shahid Ali is best known as a poet in the United States and identified himself as an American poet writing in English. Ali wrote nine poetry collections and a book of literary criticism (T.S. Eliot as Editor, 1986), as well as translated a collection of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poetry (The Rebel’s Silhouette, 1992) and edited Ravishing DisUnities: Real Ghazals in English (2000), a collection of ghazals (a Persian poetic form employing repetition, rhyme, and couplets). Ali’s collection, Rooms Are Never Finished (2001), was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2001; The Veiled Suite (2009), which contains selected works across the poet’s career, was published posthumously. (Source)

Poems by Agha Shahid Ali

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Stationery by Agha Shahid Ali

"The world is full of paper. // Write to me."
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The Wolf's Postcript to 'Little Red Riding Hood' by Agha Shahid Ali

"And you may call me the Big Bad Wolf, / now my only reputation." – Agha Shahid Ali
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The Jogger on Riverside Drive, 5:00 A.M. by Agha Shahid Ali

"he, now suddenly free, // from the air, from himself," — Agha Shahid Ali
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Postcard from Kashmir by Agha Shahid Ali

"This is home. And this the closest / I'll ever be to home." — Agha Shahid Ali
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Beyond the Ash Rains by Agha Shahid Ali

"When you lit the fire / and poured the wine, "I am going," I murmured, / repeatedly, "going where no one has been / and no one will be... Will you come with me?"" – Agha Shahid Ali
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Even the Rain by Agha Shahid Ali

"After we died---That was it!---God left us in the dark. / And as we forgot the dark, we forgot even the rain." – Agha Shahid Ali