[stanza][lineate]The muse has abandoned me for others—[/lineate]
[lineate indent=3]a scheduling conflict (I am told)[/lineate]
[lineate]And Apollo only showers acclaim and accolade[/lineate]
[lineate indent=3]on the hesitant, reluctant[/lineate]
[lineate]crop of Pakistan’s 9/11 English language novelists[/lineate]
[lineate indent=3]with their liberal credentials, hurt countenances:[/lineate]
[stanza][lineate]No “stirrer-up of strife,” no Betrans de Born,[/lineate]
[lineate indent=3]No Mahmood Mamdani among them[/lineate]
[lineate]No honest-to-God anti-imperialism[/lineate]
[lineate indent=3]only faked nuance[/lineate]
[lineate]no sestinas, no Altafortes, no besiegements,[/lineate]
[lineate indent=3]only beseechments.[/lineate]
[stanza][lineate]~ Raza Ali Hasan[/lineate]
Raza Ali Hasan was born in Chittagong, and grew up in Indonesia and Pakistan. After moving to the United States, he received an MFA from Syracuse University. He currently lives in Boulder and has taught at the University of Colorado and Iowa State University. Hasan’s poetry collections include ‘Grieving Shias’ (2006) and ‘67 mogul miniatures’ (2008). In a review of the latter collection, Daniel Dissinger wrote that Hasan “constructs a sprawling world that fits in the palm of your hand.”