Washes, Prays

Praise for Noor Naga and Washes, Prays

“These poems glide between scenes of quiet intimacy and smiling friendship. They get to the heart of difficult matter the way good poets do—by admitting awe and honesty. Washes, Prays is an inventive, genre-defying hybrid that offers a deeply necessary portrait of a Muslim woman. It dissolves stereotypes . . . making room for female desire, friendship, and the consolations of faith.” —Quill & Quire

“[E]xhilarating, mile-a-minute prose poems that are fresh, provocative, and often funny. These visceral pieces take surprising hairpin turns, pulling the reader through proclamations, inquiries, and bursts of self-doubt. Noor Naga achieves all this with a language that is rich and sensory, and a visually rigid structure that counter-intuitively unfolds to allow a multiplicity of pacing and play.” —RBC Bronwen Wallace Award Jury Citation

“Naga has the ability to capture a universe within a few lines: ‘rain like glass needles so sharp I hear them slice the air clatter excitedly off the hoods of cars / nouf turns her face to the sky like a happy pincushion.’  . . . Washes, Prays tells old stories in new language.” —The Walrus

“[A] lyrical novel that opens with a fierce ontology of its self-contained world of poetics—an introduction fit for an ancient Arabic love poem. Naga beautifully navigates ancient culture with a startlingly fresh contemporary lens. Her poetry pays homage to tradition but is not afraid to criticize it as well. . . [A] brilliant debut, containing one breathtaking poem after another.” —Arc Poetry Magazine