{"product_id":"before-i-had-the-word-brooke-sahni-9781680032574","title":"Before I Had the Word: Poems","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe poems in \u003ci\u003eBefore I Had the Word\u003c\/i\u003e explore the divine within the secular, mundane world, and often challenge the definition of holiness. Sahni uses her religious and cultural backgrounds--Sikhism and Judaism--as springboards from which to question notions of the ecstatic in nature, sexuality and the body. Religious and spiritual ways of knowing; the sacred in the mundane; how knowledge and story manifest in the body; language and how one shapes meaning, are also central to this work. Language, the speaker might argue, seeks to create meaning much in the same way religions and spiritualties do, but ultimately falls short due to the ineffability of the ecstatic experience. The book attempts to conflate, even dissolve the idea that mundane experience is \u003ci\u003eseparate \u003c\/i\u003efrom religious, holy experience--it all depends on how one would choose to word it. Some might use \u003ci\u003egod \u003c\/i\u003eor \u003ci\u003eholy, \u003c\/i\u003ethe speaker might use \u003ci\u003eelm\u003c\/i\u003e or \u003ci\u003epaper\u003c\/i\u003e or even \u003ci\u003equestions\u003c\/i\u003e. In a book that seems more concerned with the questions rather than the answers, the speaker tries to fill absence of all kinds--cultural, sexual, etc.--with knowledge.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe poems in \u003ci\u003eBefore I Had the Word\u003c\/i\u003e are exploratory, narrative-driven, and seek to challenge religious doctrine without making any accusations. Even when Sahni comes close to challenging organized religion, she still poses that interrogation as a question: \"I'm not saying we should replace god with art, or am I?\" The poems are unified in their mission to question rather than to answer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMany of the poems that make up \u003ci\u003eBefore I Had the Word\u003c\/i\u003e have been published in \u003ci\u003ePrairie Schooner, Cimarron Review, The Missouri Review, The Cincinnati Review, Denver Quarterly, Nimrod, 32 Poems\u003c\/i\u003e and elsewhere.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Brooke Sahni\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1680032577\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781680032574\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Texas Review Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/25\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 92\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.48lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 5.43h x 6.30w x 1.18d","brand":"Brooke Sahni","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43995396374783,"sku":"9781680032574","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_d7ca9a32-3e98-4d12-b791-57a8505a6297.jpg?v=1683335588","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/before-i-had-the-word-brooke-sahni-9781680032574","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}