What to Count

by Alise Alousi

With heart and insight, the poems in Alise Alousi's What to Count speak to what it means to come of age as an Iraqi American during the first Gulf War and its continuing aftermath, but also to the joy and complexity of motherhood, daughterhood, and what it means to live a creative life. More than a description of the world, Alousi's poetry actively lives in and of the world. These poems explore the nuances of memory through the changes wrought by time, conflict, and distance. In "The Ocularist" and "Art," and others, Alousi's extraordinary verbal deftness precisely locates the still-tender pains and triumphs of collective being while trying to be an individual in the world. What to Count is a remarkable collection of contemporary poetry―both a lyrical splendor and a contemplative account of lineage, silenced history, and identity.

Genres: Poetry

86 pages, Paperback

Published August 8, 2023

Reviews

[adeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forever grateful to Alise for reading in my class and breaking my months-long streak of zero writing.

More people need to read her!!!! Support (actually good) Detroit poets.

"For in Detroit there is a secret freeway with only one car, its headlights / dimmed, and the sound of the bass makes roadside flowers grow."

[John Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful collection from an important Detroit writer. I love how Alousi moves between spare, lyrical poems and narrative, prose poems. It feels like listening to a story—coming in and out of dream. I see Jane Kenyon in the lyric poems and late Darwish in the prose poems. It's a really lovely book. Very much recommend it.

[Kristin Lenz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never know how to write a review for poetry. I just know what resonates with me, what I appreciate, what I like to savor, what makes me feel and murmur aloud as I read. That's this book. I've also had the pleasure of hearing Alise read some of these poems at Detroit area events, so I hear her voice as I read which makes this collection even more special.