{"id":4714,"date":"2022-02-16T21:59:33","date_gmt":"2022-02-16T21:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/farefwd.com\/?p=4714"},"modified":"2022-02-16T22:02:01","modified_gmt":"2022-02-16T22:02:01","slug":"pilgrim-bell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/16\/pilgrim-bell\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilgrim Bell"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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What Can We Say?<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Kaveh Akbar questions language\u2019s potential and bemoans its failures while still reminding us of its weight.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Review by Whitney Rio-Ross<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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When a boy starts speaking
his trouble begins.\u201d<\/p>

\u2014\u201cThere Are 7,000 Living Languages\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Kaveh Akbar is obsessed with language.<\/p>

Akbar\u2019s second full-length collection, Pilgrim Bell<\/em>, covers a number of topics: his childhood, God, heritage, politics. Then there\u2019s language. The book includes poems with the titles \u201cHow to Say the Unsayable Thing,\u201d \u201cIn the Language of Mammon,\u201d and \u201cThere Are 7,000 Living Languages.\u201d But even poems seemingly about something unrelated include lines touching on the power and perils of speech. In \u201cShadian Incident,\u201d which refers to the 1975 People\u2019s Liberation Army attack, he reminds us that \u201cgrief requires \/ only a tongue and a crown.\u201d \u201cReza\u2019s Restaurant, Chicago, 1997\u201d tells the story of a boy eating with his father but reaches its emotional climax when it turns from the scene to note<\/p>

. . . my father built
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 the world the first sound I ever heard
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 was his voice whispering the azan
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 in my right ear I didn\u2019t need anything
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 else . . .<\/p>

All decent poets are captivated by language. Phrases can take a hundred drafts to perfect. Changing one word can redirect an entire poem. Some add to that the impossible craft of translation, a profoundly important aspect of Akbar\u2019s poetry, which often refers to other languages and occasionally includes Farsi. Poets are obsessed with silences, too\u2014a pause at the end of a line, syllables left on the threshing floor. All poetry is an art of said and unsaid, and plenty of poets write about this language game in their poems. Akbar is far from alone in his obsession; his poems dazzle for how they perform this topic.<\/p>

Akbar\u2019s relationship with language is complicated. He questions its potential and bemoans its failures while still reminding us of its weight. Above all, Akbar sees language as a risk, a risk he can\u2019t resist. Many poems play out this internal struggle between his fear and his call to speak. \u201cThe Value of Fear\u201d is \u201cin its sound, sewing song \/ to throat.\u201d Yet in the politically charged poem \u201cReading Farrokhzad in a Pandemic,\u201d he magnifies the implications of translating a sentence of Farsi, as if the world depended on how to say and understand a handful of words. Akbar is constantly wondering when something must be said and when it\u2019s best to shut up. There\u2019s a war raging on the poet\u2019s tongue, and he doesn\u2019t even know which side he wants to win. At one point he cleverly notes the contradiction outright: \u201chaven\u2019t I always been happiest \/ when a little simple \/ when too sad and sleepy \/ to speak.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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When God and language meet in Pilgrim Bell<\/em>, they reveal the faith of poetry.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The book is filled with contradictions and retractions, often amplified by the poem\u2019s linguistic turns. The poems titled \u201cPilgrim Bell\u201d come in short phrases, sentences disrupted by several periods. In some poems it reads as a stutter, in others as a firing round of certainty. Of course, the poems are more than a set of interesting questions and claims about language or God. A stack of even the wisest fortune cookies isn\u2019t poetry. Akbar\u2019s abstract statements are grounded in stellar images. They are surprising and often strange, but somehow exactly right. Reading them is like coming across the precise word for a feeling you thought had no name. His comparisons are especially illuminating: the parts of him that claim to understand God are \u201ctacky as jugglers at a funeral.\u201d When listening to his prayers, God is \u201clike a virtuoso \/ trying not to smash apart her \/ flute onstage.\u201d Trying to say something better than a beloved phrase in Farsi is \u201clike using \/ a hacksaw to slice a strawberry \/ when I have a razor in my \/ pocket.\u201d There are also plenty of narrative poems where his musings are grounded in a vividly rendered moment. Language, Akbar shows, doesn\u2019t exist in a vacuum. Neither does God, who usually tags along with language in Pilgrim Bell<\/em>.<\/p>

Akbar examines various ideas about God\u2019s character, meditates on faith and doubt, and boldly takes on questions like \u201cHow to Pray.\u201d As with language, the relationship is complicated; God both agonizes and holds him together. Fittingly, tones range from terror to awe to pleading to blasphemy. Faith can be hopeful and worth fighting for; one of the \u201cPilgrim Bell\u201d poems claims, \u201cAll day I hammer the distance. \/ Between earth and me. \/ Into faith.\u201d Yet Akbar also wonders if supposedly holy things can in fact be evil. \u201cMy Empire\u201d offers a chilling and vivid interrogation of his religion\u2019s possible flaws. The speaker imagines, \u201cThe prophets came to participate in suffering \/ as if to an amusement park, which makes \/ our suffering the main attraction.\u201d The poem ends, \u201cMy empire made me happy \/ because it was an empire, cruel, \/ and the suffering wasn\u2019t my own.\u201d<\/p>

Like the tone, the speaker\u2019s confidence fluctuates with the moment. The first \u201cPilgrim Bell\u201d ends with a tremble: \u201cFear. \/ Comes only. \/ At our invitation but. \/ It comes. It came.\u201d Yet in a later one the speaker is bold enough to say, \u201cI demand. \/ To be forgiven.\u201d In other poems, the speaker offers outright statements of his beliefs but often second-guesses himself and falls into apophasis. We see in these poems that the stakes of speech and silence are immeasurably higher when we believe God is listening in. Akbar tells us as much in the opening epigraph. The first page claims, \u201cAny text that is not a holy text is an apostasy.\u201d The next page says, \u201cThen it is a holy text.\u201d We cannot speak of God in our limited language without risking irreverence, and Akbar believes that even irreverence can speak a holy word. He writes, \u201cThere is something terrible \/ beneath all I am able to say.\u201d Yet the poet keeps singing before God, whom he believes is \u201calways so charmed \/ by my weaknesses.\u201d<\/p>

When God and language meet in Pilgrim Bell<\/em>, they reveal the faith of poetry: We grasp, we wrestle. We speak and stammer out imperfect offerings. We hush in hope and fear that we hear and be heard. The words we have are both ache and gift. Using them is risky, but we should take Akbar\u2019s advice.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How to find your voice:
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 try.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Whitney Rio-Ross\u00a0<\/strong>holds a Master\u2019s in Religion and Literature from Yale Divinity School. Her writing has appeared in\u00a0<\/em>Sojourners,\u00a0<\/em>Reflections,\u00a0<\/em>America Magazine,\u00a0<\/em>LETTERS JOURNAL,\u00a0<\/em>The Cresset,\u00a0<\/em>St. Katherine Review,\u00a0<\/em>The Other Journal, and elsewhere. She is the author of the poetry chapbook\u00a0<\/em>Birthmarks\u00a0and lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Pilgrim Bell\u00a0<\/strong>was published by Graywolf Press on August 3, 2021. <\/em>Fare Forward appreciates their provision of a review copy. You can purchase your own copy on their website here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kaveh Akbar questions language\u2019s potential and bemoans its failures while still reminding us of its weight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":4715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"ocean_front_end_style_editor":"no","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"0","ocean_second_sidebar":"0","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"0","ocean_custom_header_template":"0","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"0","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"off","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","category-newsletter","entry","has-media"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farefwd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Akbar-cover.jpg?fit=1500%2C1383&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4714"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4719,"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4714\/revisions\/4719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/farefw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