An exquisite collection from a poet at the peak of her powers, A God at the Door spans time and space, drawing on the extraordinary minutiae of nature and humanity to elevate the marginalised. These poems, taken together, traverse history, from the cosmic to the everyday. There is a playful spikiness to be found in poems like 'Why the Brazilian Butt Lift Won’t Save Us', while others, such as 'I Found a Village and in it Were All Our Missing Women', are fed by rage. As the collection unfolds, there are gem-like poems such as 'I Carry My Uterus in a Small Suitcase' which sparkles on the page with impeccable precision. Later, there are the sharp shocks delivered by two mirrored poems set side by side, 'Microeconomics' and 'Macroeconomics'.
Tishani Doshi's poetry bestows power on the powerless, deploys beauty to heal trauma, and enables the voices of the oppressed to be heard with piercing clarity. From flightless birds and witches, to black holes and Marilyn Monroe, A God at the Door illuminates with lines and images that surprise, inflame and dazzle.
'The witty, wise and clear-eyed novelist, dancer and poet deploys both rage and sharp analysis covering issues from the precarious state of the environment to the treatment of women.' - The Guardian (Books to look forward to in 2021) on A God at the Door
From the reviews of Tishani Doshi's Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods :
'This intelligent, elegant, unflinching collection. It’s very much a collection for this moment in history, but one that will endure long past it.' – Kamila Shamsie, The Guardian (Best Summer Reads)
'The title poem is a haunting vision of retribution… Doshi’s poem is exceptionally timely, although it was written before the rise of the #MeToo movement. It’s impossible not to cheer the boldness and liberation enacted by much of this book, and to be stirred by its bravery. To paraphrase one interviewer, Doshi is writing the anthems of her generation.’ – Sandeep Parmar, The Guardian
'The poet revels in a love of language; its capacity for ambiguity, for awe, to express emotional fragility. Sometimes playful and ambivalent, this is an invariably profound and excavating experience in its search for meaning.' - Linton Kwesi Johnson, Canon Mark Oakley and Clare Shaw, Judges of the Ted Hughes Award 2018
‘I love the opulent poetry of Tishani Doshi.’ – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, New York Times
Tishani Doshi reads Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods and other poems
Tishani Doshi reads and talks about ‘Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods’ and six other poems from the collection: ‘Everyone Loves a Dead Girl’, ‘Contract’. ‘Ode to Patrick Swayze’, ‘Find the Poets’, ‘A Fable for the 21st Century’ and ‘Poem for a Dead Dog’. Neil Astley filmed her reading poems from the book before her reading with Pascale Petit at Ledbury Poetry Festival on 5 July 2018.
Tishani Doshi dances Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods in Chennai
Tishani Doshi performs her dance version of ‘Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods’ at a TEDx event in Chennai in March 2018. The poem is read by her with music composed by Luca Nardon (www.lucanardon.it). She also read two other poems from Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods at this presentation, ‘Contract’ and ‘Find the Poets’ which you can view via this link
VIDEO
Tishani Doshi dances Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods at the Dylan Thomas Birthplace
Tishani Doshi performs her dance version of ‘Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods’ in the Dylan Thomas Birthplace, Swansea, in July 2018. Filmed by Gareth M Davies (www.seebehindthemoon.com). Poem read by her with music composed by Luca Nardon (www.lucanardon.it).
Tishani Doshi: Everything Begins Elsewhere
Tishani Doshi introduces and reads five poems from Everything Begins Elsewhere : 'The Art of Losing', 'Walking Around' (after Neruda), 'The Memory of Wales' (a sestina), 'The Adulterous Citizen' and 'Homecoming'. Neil Astley filmed her reading from the book after her Ledbury Poetry Festival reading in July 2012.
North America: Copper Canyon Press
India: HarperCollins
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