Europa

Front Cover
Bloodaxe, 2008 - Poetry - 63 pages
Many of the poems in Moniza Alvi's "Europa" relate to ancient and modern traumas, including enforced exile, alienation, rape and 'honour killing'. Its centre-piece is a re-imagining of the story of the rape of Europa by Jupiter as a bull. Her latest collection also includes a series of poems exploring post-traumatic stress disorder, and further versions of the French poet Jules Supervielle with their Second World War background. "Europa" is a dark, unified book whose poems move towards regeneration. It is published at the same time as "Moniza Alvi's Split World: Poems 1990-2005".

Contents

PostTraumatic
10
Her Symptoms
12
Memory Memory
13
Key Words
14
In Response
15
Candle
16
The Sleeping Wound
17
So Much More
18
Hanging
46
Sunday
47
Honour
48
The Veil
49
To My Posthumous Self
50
Fish Swimming
51
In the Forest
52
Red Apples
53

Interior Degas
19
The Beautiful Apology
20
Mermaid
21
The Ride
22
EUROPA AND THE BULL
23
Night
40
The Trees Outside My Window
41
War and Peace on Earth
42
Hold My Breath in This Country With Its Sad Past
44
The Crossing
45
Europas Dream
54
Island
55
Outsider
56
A Gift
57
Intimation
58
Happiness
59
Upholding the
60
Not Exactly
62
King Agenor
63
Copyright

About the author (2008)

Moniza Alvi was born in Pakistan and grew up in Hertfordshire. After working for many years as a secondary school teacher in London, she is now a freelance writer and tutor, and lives in Wymondham, Norfolk. All her poetry is published by Bloodaxe. Her most recent titles are Fairoz (2022), Blackbird, Bye Bye (2018); her book-length poem, At the Time of Partition (2013); Homesick for the Earth, her versions of the French poet Jules Supervielle (2011); Europa (2008); and Split World: Poems 1990-2005 (2008), which includes poems from her five previous collections, The Country at My Shoulder (1993), A Bowl of Warm Air (1996), Carrying My Wife (2000), Souls (2002) and How the Stone Found Its Voice (2005). The Country at My Shoulder was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot and Whitbread poetry prizes, and Carrying My Wife was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. Europa and At the Time of Partition were selected as Poetry Book Society Choices in 2008 and 2013 respectively and both were shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize. Moniza Alvi received a Cholmondeley Award in 2002. A collection of her poems was published in Italy by Donzelli Editore in their Poesia series in 2014, Un mondo diviso, translated by Paola Splendore.

Bibliographic information