Syncope

by Asiya Wadud

Poetry. Through a series of prayers, invocations, and hymns, SYNCOPE eulogizes those who have perished making Central Mediterranean crossings as well as collects first-hand accounts of those who have survived these perilous journeys. Forces of fate brought errant lives together for a hopeful safe passage and ultimately, linked these lives in their untimely deaths. SYNCOPE attempts to shed some light on these lives, as well as the happenstance of living and dying while trying to cross a border.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction

80 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2019

Reviews

[Anvita (anvitascorner) · Rating 4 out of 5]

“all this time spent convincing you we’re human
meanwhile god won’t claim us”

this was the first time i had ever heard of the left-to-die boat case and it was one of the most heartbreaking, devastating thing i have read in a long time. would recommend everyone to read it and learn about a part of history that you might not have heard before.

[Blue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Syncope by Asiya Wadud was highly recommended by the nice Ugly Duckling Presse folks at the Indie Press Flea yesterday in Brooklyn. The poems originate from the Left-to-Die Boat incident in March 2011, where 72 people attempting to cross over to Europe were adrift for 14 days. Eleven (or 9?) survived. This, in and of itself, may sound like business as usual today. What was shocking about this event was that many vessels and other boats spotted the drifting boat and several encounters with military helicopters and fishing boats were made during the 14 days, though nobody tried to rescue the dying people (including dying babies).

Wadud's poetry reads like an incantation, a trance that circles over and over a speck (call it a boat full of people) drifting in space (call it a sea), trying to make sense of it, understand it, witness it, make it visible and heard.

Recommended for those who have sought refuge from the sun, the wind, the sea, and what we call humanity.

[Ellie Botoman · Rating 5 out of 5]

“sight / is / for / seeing / naming / is / for / subjugating”

[Abigail Zimmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 2011 events of the Left-to-Die boat of refugees, of which few passengers survived, are the basis of Asiya Wadud’s heartbreaking long poem, told from a survivor’s point of view and which is both an indictment against those who did not act and a eulogy for the dead.

Wadud weaves into the poem fragments of language from news article, reports, and the survivor’s accounts. A number of lines, such as “our bodies became deadweight” and “time is a heavenly host,” repeat throughout the text, drifting continuously toward the reader, circular in the way a boat might go, songlike in the way of elegies, shifting in the way of borders.

Syncope is a book that gives a voice to the voiceless and returns to them their humanity. It sings of a group of people who were “luminous in that / we were each born under the / fabled light of some star.”

[atito · Rating 5 out of 5]

fuck

[Zach Weinberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

“the extremity of the natural world / how unrelenting the light can be / how fissured the dark / how gaping / its own ecstatic force”

[Carly Weiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Met the author and got to hear them speak on it, the history and context is hard to swallow but something you could fall into a rabbit hole about. Beautifully written, horribly saddening story