Searching for a Pulse

by Nazifa Islam

Nazifa Islam's debut poetry collection tells the story of Rosemary who wants to love and to be loved but finds it tragically impossible.

Genres: Poetry

ebook

First published August 5, 2013

About the author

Nazifa Islam is the author of the poetry collections Searching for a Pulse (Whitepoint Press, 2013) and Forlorn Light: Virginia Woolf Found Poems (Shearsman Books, 2021). Her fiction, paintings, and poems have appeared in publications including Waxwing, The Missouri Review, The Southern Review, The Account, Gulf Coast, RHINO, The Rumpus, and Beloit Poetry Journal; and her work has been selected for inclusion in The Best American Poetry anthology series and The Wigleaf Top 50.

She has long been fascinated by literature that is preoccupied with mental illness and the existential. Writers she admires, identifies with, and who are perpetually influencing her work include Sylvia Plath, Edgar Allan Poe, Virginia Woolf, and Fyodor Dostoevsky. She attempts to dissect, examine, and explore the bipolar experience through her writing. She is currently working on a series of L.M. Montgomery found poems.

Nazifa earned her BA in English at the University of Michigan and her MFA at Oregon State University. She lives in Novi, Michigan.

Reviews

[amita the cat · Rating 3 out of 5]

rosemary dies eight times in this short verse novella. eight!! i understand alot of the feelings here, as i suffer from depression and suicidal ideation from time to time. i wish the side characters were more real... they feel more like poetic devices than actual people, not centered in any concrete location or having any actual interests. To me, this reads as the notes app of the MC referring to herself in third person. it's very unique and i'm always happy to support Desi writers from my home state.

[Saba · Rating 3 out of 5]

"This poetry collection tells the story of Rosemary who wants to love and to be loved but finds it tragically impossible."

My top three thoughts on 'Searching for a Pulse':
1. For a book that's just 46 pages, this collection of poems tells quite a story. A woman is stuck in a situation where she feels her only escape from it is through death. Interestingly, the poems can be read on their own - poem by poem or as a whole, as they're all interconnected and still make sense.
2. The plot is super minimalistic and centers around feelings. The hurt, the sorrow, the regret and even the acceptance - All the emotions come across as raw and very real.
3. The subject of the book is not for me. I can handle books on mental health and depression. But this story centers around a protagonist who is suicidally depressed. It can really get to you. Truthfully, I can't really blame anyone but myself for selecting this without reading up on it. The cover and the title are a clear dead give away (no pun intended). I still gave this book a higher rating because of Nazifa Islam's skillful writing. I just personally didn't want to almost be inside the head of someone who is so devoid of hope and is committed to hurting herself.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

These poems are dark, but honest and bold in looking at how much some people suffer and scrape through life in agony. They do read for a younger audience, but they are written with a gravity and clarity of a young person who feels old before their time by virtue of the weight they are crushed beneath, and they are skillfully formulated and pieced together.

[Rand]

Too much suicide ideation for my tastes. This is a rare case in which the lack of didacticism may in fact be a very bad thing—that is to say, representation here seems to be a form of endorsement. Which makes me sad.
But to each their own.

Judge for yourself with this sample poem.

Nazifa Islam does have a talent for re-presenting images and there is something to be said for a book of poems which conveys an entire narrative. Maybe her next book will have a different focus.

Note that I did not read her poems as closely as I perhaps should have, as suicide is something that freaks the shit out of me & yet my inner gawker compelled me to enter the FirstReads giveaway contest to see what this book was all about.

[Andrea Blythe · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars

This was an ARC provided by the publisher.

This chapbook contains a series of interconnected poems about Rosemary, a women trapped in a state of suicidal depression. As the story unfolds with each poem, you learn about the people in her life who try to help her, but can't keep up with the brunt force of her sorrow.

Most of these poems are presented in smooth, plain language with moments of poetic beauty that caught my attention and resonated well. The words are full of raw edges and hurt, and I could feel for Rosemary's sorrow and her friend's inability to connect with her.

Ultimately, though the message and story is bleak with little hope or redemption. So, it's not for everyone.

[Morganne Gervais · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I loved about Nazifa Islams book, Searching for a Pulse, was that each poem told a story in, and of itself, but collectively gave the reader a glimpse of a small part of Rosemary's life as each poem connects from one to the next. She writes without fear of judgement, it's raw and sincere. Nazifa is to be commended for these.

[Zara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetically tragic but quite lovely all the same. The story is told out of order so it's interesting to read more than once and understand anew.

[Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

fantastic verse novel