Forty Names by Parwana Fayyaz Martin Wakefield yet with a delightful lightness

yet with a delightful lightness of touch

we make the routes we follow

from crucifixion or hanging to bombing or mauling by crocodile… A menacing owl comes to the garden each night for twelve nights

and students

Forty Names by Parwana Fayyaz Martin Wakefield yet with a delightful lightnessIn this remarkable first collection, Parwana Fayyaz evokes events in the lives of Afghan women, past and present their endurance and achievements, told from their points of view. John McAuliffe writes of the 'remarkable litanies, which haunt her poems' occasions' and the title poem, with which she won the 2019 Forward Prize for Best Single Poem, is such a litany, conjuring and commemorating. The poems are not judgmental: they witness. The reader