Inkstains on the Edge of Light

by Hind Shoufani

INKSTAINS ON THE EDGE OF LIGHT is the second collection of poems and spoken word from Palestinian poet and filmmaker, Hind Shoufani. In four chapters--Death, Life, Home, Lust--Shoufani writes of the Arab world through a cosmopolitan global view, and of the world through her Palestinian refugee identity and rootless lifestyle. She is influenced by the Civil Rights Movement poets and current serious writers of the Hip Hop generation, especially the influential and powerful poets emerging from Brooklyn. In over three hundred pages of open free form verse, Shoufani takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of politics, honor killings, terror attacks on Mumbai, lost lovers and new found mourning, sex and humid nights in Beirut, the gulf of Dubai and the dust of chaotic Damascus. She speaks for those who are unnoticed in Arabia. She condemns the labor camps. Sexist mythology. Structures of patriarchy and cowardly lovers. She hurts for and commemorates family deceased, both close and far. She mourns Palestine, a homeland she never knew well. She resists all forms of occupation--both of land and soul. She laughs and sings and dances from throughout the Middle East to her beloved New York. And back.

320 pages, Paperback

First published November 28, 2010

Reviews

[Richda Mcnutt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful and passionate (especially the section devoted to 'Death' - a voice crying in the wilderness of all souls, whether they are Arab or not.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Home is by far the strongest chapter. Some of the rest drag on and on and on.