Bänoo Zan’s Songs of Exile are spare, powerful poems of longing for (re)union with the Beloved, reaching out “to invisible borders” of non-duality. Repetition, paradox and oxymoron become in these poems a “chaos of harmony” – the poet’s words drunk with self, other, truth, the Word. Her prophetic “tongue of fire” sets readers’ hearts burning within them.

The poems in her debut collection are not overtly autobiographical, but nevertheless powerfully convey the immigrant experience. The language is spare, but the poems are not slight. Repetition across and within poems gives them an incantatory quality and a mesmerizing effect: “Flames are together / fire is alone / Feathers are together / phoenix is alone / Phoenix loves death / Fire loves life …”

In Songs of Exile, I was drawn to the poems from the start. The language is very captivating and the way the poems really get into your head impressed me. She uses beautiful imagery and religious and cultural references which balance really well. But mostly, I enjoyed the blend of Greek and Arabian/Irani mythology in the poems and the way the different characters/figures acted as metaphors or added many layers to the work.