Nazifa Islam

To write these poems, I select a paragraph from a Woolf novel-The Waves or Mrs. Dalloway-and only use the words from that paragraph to create a poem. I essentially write poems while doing a word search using Virginia Woolf as source material. I don't allow myself to repeat words, add words, or edit the language for tense or any other consideration. These poems are simultaneously defined by both Woolf's choices with language as well as my own. They feel like an homage to this writer I so admire as well as a way of authentically expressing my lived experience.

Virginia Woolf Found Poems

Forlorn Light

Nazifa Islam's debut poetry collection tells the story of Rosemary who wants to love and to be loved but finds it tragically impossible.

Matt Leyshon

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