Objects from April and May

Objects from April and May is a rumination on the sanctity and significance of cherished possessions. Informed by the loss of precious gold in an armed robbery, these poems trace each taken item across years and borders, from a supermarket in Brooklyn to a checkpoint in Occupied Palestine to an American compound in Iraq. Yet they return, irrevocably, to a violent interaction on a quiet street in Oakland, California, gathering its shattered fragments.

Formally inventive and politically astute, Zena Agha’s poems bristle with a controlled melancholy. As she unspools one traumatic encounter and its reverberations, she shows how much material loss can teach us about love, attachment and sorrow.

‘A moving collection written with love and defiance.’ — Isabella Hammad, author of The Parisian

‘Heartbreaking and gorgeous, Objects from April and May explores the richness of life’s fleeting yet monumental moments, where everything is at stake.’ — Heba Hayek, author of Sambac Beneath Unlikely Skies

‘Rich in memory, thought and materiality … Objects from April and May shows a serious conviction; a yearning for an alternative version of what is, and an imagining of what’s also possible.’ — Anthony Anaxagorou, author of After the Formalities

Zena Agha is a Palestinian-Iraqi writer and poet from London. She has received fellowships from the Asian American Writers’ Workshop and the Millay Colony for the Arts. Her writing has been featured by The Margins, The New York Times and NPR. Objects from April and May is her first book.