Review by MNorway53 -- Bleeding Gull - look, feel, fly

[MNorway53]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Bleeding Gull - look, feel, fly" by Raed Anis Aljishi.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Raed Anis Al-Jishi is an author and teacher living in Qateef. Bleeding Gull: Look, Feel, Fly (2014) is Al-Jishi’s first collection of poetry published in English. His work explores the spectrum of emotional experiences from love to grief and touches upon challenging topics such as autism, cancer, and sexuality.


Each of Al-Jishi’s poems are cadences to the overall melody of his collection. One of the marked qualities about his work that I find effective is the way in which he inhabits the female experience with natural fluidity in poems such as “Upside-Down Creature” (p. 17) and “Breast Cancer” (p. 86). I most appreciate how each verse is composed of evocative imagery and scintillating nuances in language that surprise the reader with interesting juxtapositions such as “parasite guitar” (p. 28) and “guillotine’s flowers” (p. 41). He reverses the animate and inanimate; people in his poems become objects and the objects take on sentience. The resulting effect is a unique approach to themes of vulnerability, memory, and the sense of loss amid the various themes the poet brings to life. The intensity of Al-Jishi’s poetics ebb and flow in a way that lends itself to the quiet poignancy and revelatory tone of his collection.


I did not explicitly dislike any part of Bleeding Gull; however, I finished the book with the sense that certain aspects could have been improved. Al-Jishi’s collection would benefit from the implementation of sections that unite poems with similar moods and themes. The volume of his work is impressive, but the pendulum swing of tonal shifts and subjects from page to page is a disservice to what his book as a whole accomplishes. Situating poems with shared images in contained spaces within the collection provides the opportunity to build upon or deconstruct the intensity of content. I find Al-Jishi’s use of a footnote in “Imam Hussain” (p.64) unnecessary. While the aesthetic of its presence on the page is done well so not to be a distraction, his decision to elucidate Sumer as an ancient civilization while foregoing explanations for more culturally specific references demonstrates an unawareness to what is likely common knowledge for his audience. This seemingly innocuous detail is most ineffective for Al-Jishi’s work, and I would suggest he either double-down on his use of footnotes or do away with them altogether.


While suitable for myriad audiences, I recommend this book to readers who enjoy close-reading or reading a poem or two in the morning and ruminating on it throughout the day. This book of poems, while it may be read in one sitting, demands time and patience to allow for the words to be consumed and immerse the reader into the stories encapsulated in each poem. Al-Jishi’s work is loaded with meaning and I see his poetry well-situated in a literature class. Those who enjoy straightforward or form poetry may be less inclined to purchase this book, though lovers of lyric poems will greatly enjoy Bleeding Gull.


I give Bleeding Gull: Look, Feel, Fly 4 out of 4 stars. Each poem is wrought with stunning language and imagery that lingers long after being read. The minor shortcomings this book contains are far outweighed by the complex range of emotion that is so thoughtfully and beautifully demonstrated in his collection. Raed Anis Al-Jishi’s book deserves every star it has received.

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Bleeding Gull - look, feel, fly
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