Dear Big Gods

Dear Big Gods

by Mona Arshi

68 pages· 2019· ISBN 9781786942159

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About
Following on from her Forward prize-winning collection, Small Hands, Mona Arshi's new book continues in its lyrical and exact exploration of the aftershocks of grief. These extraordinary poems, which see Arshi continuing with her experiments with form, relocate experiences in both past and future feeling, in both the intimacies of ordinariness and the collective experience of myth. Moving and discomfiting, these poems tune, in their acute emotional awareness of individual pain, to the dangers and unsettling violences of the contemporary world. Nevertheless, at the centre of this book is an overarching commitment to hope, in whatever form it takes, to the earth's tiny creatures, and its 'churning, broken song'.

Discussion questions for Dear Big Gods

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  1. 1

    The description highlights Arshi's continued exploration of the "aftershocks of grief." In what ways do these poems illuminate the lingering, complex nature of grief beyond its initial impact, and did any particular images or metaphors resonate with your own understanding of loss?

  2. 2

    Arshi experiments with form and uses "lyrical and exact exploration." Can you identify a poem where the structure, sound, or specific word choices particularly enhanced its emotional impact or thematic depth for you?

  3. 3

    The collection juxtaposes "intimacies of ordinariness and the collective experience of myth." Where did you see these two scales intersect, and how did this interplay broaden or deepen your understanding of the poems' subjects?

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