Egrets, While War

Egrets, While War reflects on aging, mortality, and survival in a world where violence and the beauty of nature coexist.

Unflinching, yet tender, the poems in Tishani Doshi's Egrets, While War exist in a world of dualities, holding "desire in one hand, suffering in another." Meditations on loss and larger world conflicts move alongside personal experiences, vulnerable self-reflections, and a deep longing for "what's wild / and pulsing." Thick with lush and immersive imagery, the pages of this collection are punctuated by birds as omens, as prophecies, as epiphanies, and sometimes, as moments of "brief blazing splendor." Parakeets feed from orange blossoms outside a window. Wildflowers appear in the garden overnight. Sunbirds dive "in and out / of dens of gold." Sharp and subtle, these poems lament the loss of humanity, while relishing the beauty, strength, and persistence of the natural world. Egrets, While War posits hope, resilience, and the earth as answers to our physical, spiritual, and emotional survival.

Tishani Doshi publishes poetry, essays, and fiction. Her most recent books are A God at the Door; Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods, shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Poetry Award and a Firecracker Award; and the novel Small Days and Nights, shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, the Tata Literature Live! Book of the Year Award (Fiction), and The New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice. For fifteen years, she worked as a dancer with the Chandralekha group in Chennai. She has interviewed over a hundred writers about the craft of writing and has published essays in The Hindu, Granta, The National, The New York Times, The Guardian, Literary Hub, and Corriere della Sera. She is a visiting associate professor at New York University Abu Dhabi, and otherwise lives on a beach in Tamil Nadu. Egrets, While War is her fifth full-length collection of poems.