Incredible beauty, intellect, and originality.

The poems of ‘99 Names of Exile’ translate distance and exercise range masterfully. Kaveh Bassiri deepens a literacy of memory by navigating the storied risks and labyrinthine recovery of return. “Why is it called a tongue,” opens one stunning poem, ‘this boneless palm doctors read / this ladle for memories / sail for thoughts[.]’ In the face of erasure, personal loss, and the limits of understanding, Bassiri’s work wields a lyrical faith and the grace of imagery to house this book’s psychic longing for safety and family survival, teaching us to ‘Listen for the dawn to whisper: I am.’

From the gorgeous opening directive, the poem’s devotion to its subject matter is a breath-taking confluence of nature and indeed, the galaxy. Here, stars bloom in a Petri dish and moths scatter in a garden-turned soundscape. The poem reveals the gargantuan task of the invention of the title clipped bit by clipped bit until the reader is pulled through each line, spent and bloodied. There is a brute physicality to this poem but what stands out especially for me is the tender love-lyric tucked in between.

From touring the interior of an atomic bomb to the light scraped out of and iris to the irises found inside a dead body, 99 Names of Exile presents a narrative of personal immigration and exile that is incapable of being nested under one name alone.

Pain is met with resigned compassion as Bassiri weaves stories of culture and family between scenes of distance and longing, reaching a balance that is both beautiful and accessible.

Naming Exile: an interview with Kaveh Bassiri

Laura Eppinger and Kaveh Bassiri discuss 99 Names of Exile, immigration, assimilation, translation, miscommunication, as well as form, sound, and grammar in poetry.
(April 17, 2019)

University of Arkansas Poet Included in “Best of 2020” Collection

Daniel Caruth from KUAF National Public Radio interviews Kaveh Bassiri about his chapbook, 99 Names of Exile, and his use of language to explore identity.
(March 26, 2020)

In Exile by Jonathan Dove

Poem "99 Names of Exile" was used for In Exile, a concerto for cello, baritone, and orchestra

Reading “Invention of I”

Part of the series of readings by Asian American poets from the Best American Poetry 2020 anthology for Asian American Writers’ Workshop.
(Oct 27, 2020)

The Heart of a Stranger: An Anthology of Exile Literature

Editor André Naffis-Sahely reads “99 Names of Exile” on Bookworm hosted by Michael Silverblatt
(National Public Radio KCRW, May 28, 2020)