April 2019 – Michigan Quarterly Review

April 2019

“A Field of Flowers Called Paintbrushes:”  A Review of Jericho Brown’s The Tradition

Tradition The Tradition, Jericho Brown’s first book of poetry since his award winning The New Testament was released in 2014, is nothing short of a transcendent collection. Part ethnography and part odyssey, it explores in three sections, themes of masculinity, sexuality, and race utilizing “tradition;” here a refreshingly multifaceted conceit as a method of delivery. …

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Displaced Entities, Shattered Identities, and the Loss of Paradise

Immigrants are a special breed. Whether migrating because of political, economic, or other circumstances or simply because of a desire for change, an immigrant is thought to be uprooted from one culture and transplanted into another. However, neither the uprooting nor the transplantation is usually a complete process. For a voluntary immigrant as well as …

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Persian

              after Agha Shahid Ali’s “Arabic” At springtime—Persian new year—we circle around the warmth of bonfires to chant, Give me your color, take back my sickly pallor. There is rebirth in this language. A groom exchanges vows with his Persian bride in a foreign tongue. May their lives be sweetened with sugar, we pray in …

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Sakeen

Sakeen the housemaid was rarely free to play with us, even at parties. She had to prepare dinner, serve it to the guests, and clean up. Shahnaz, my uncle’s wife, liked to throw big parties to outplay our mothers in a game between them known as “The Best Hostess.” Her dinner table was always colorful …

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Wolverine Press + Michigan Quarterly Review: A Letterpress Partnership

MQR is delighted to announce a new project with Wolverine Press, with these words from Press Director Fritz Swanson: _______________________________________________________________________ Wolverine Press is pleased to partner with Michigan Quarterly Review on the first of what we hope will be many collaborative editions. As a sign of our commitment, we’ve bound our two letter marks between …

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