Mouth

A resonant new collection from the Forward Prize-winning poet Mona Arshi, giving voice to the marginal women of Greek tragedy to present fresh perspectives on war and migration today.

Mouth transports us to a world where violence hangs in the air, where beauty, pity, and cruelty intertwine. The sequence at its heart, Palace, takes the overlooked women from the edges of Greek tragedy and places them centre stage, to tell unforgettable stories of survival and loss. With new depth and force, their voices set off echoes with women navigating the terrible reality and aftermath of war today.

As a human rights lawyer, Arshi saw power and its abuses, the structures of silencing set against refugees. As a poet, she charts the movements and migrations that change the course of our lives—from child to adult, from home to elsewhere, from grief to what lies beyond.

Mouth is a complex and original study of speaking's limitations, chasms in communication, but also the unexpected power of silence—'sometimes / language picks us clean'.

'Delicately lethal; sharp-eyed and tender' — Preti Taneja, author of We That Are Young

'Quick before the story ebbs away. There are things I need to tell you.'

'These rich and varied verses reveal truths that were there all along' — Christia Mercer, Gustave M. Berne Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University