when the flies come

In this rewarding debut pamphlet, Fahad Al-Amoudi blurs the lines between national and personal memory. These finely-crafted poems are rooted in the specificity of family and place, with the trappings of myth and fabulation. His speakers are restless, yet alert to the minute details of the world – movements of insects, the intricacy of jewellery, the bloom and spoil of fruit – against which we experience their coming of age.

“These poems are stubborn refractions. Al-Amoudi weds together disappeared, intertwined pasts and presents, departures and returnings, catching hold of historical resonances and their spectral tendrils. Language is lustrous. Here, it glistens with yearning, possessing the imaginative flair of the scavenger. The abyss becomes the perfect launch pad.” Momtaza Mehri