Description
On the Other Side of Silence by Mohammad Shafiqul Islam is the work of a powerful and visionary mind. …[T]hese thought-provoking poems lead us through a compelling exploration of the constantly shifting nature of our understanding of, and relationship to, paradox — and to the meaning of life itself. — Jenny Lewis
Mohammad Shafiqul Islam is a dedicated practitioner of the craft of verse and he energetically addresses issues of common concern. His attention to silence, which is associated with meditation and spirituality, is welcome amidst the noise and cacophony that accompanies the iniquities of contemporary history. — Kaiser Haq
Islam’s new collection is as much a meditation as a celebration of silence in words that reflect on the meaning of life… where silence plays many parts as the poems take us on a journey through suffering and loss, love and home. — Shanta Acharya
The poems in On the Other Side of Silence restore me with their vividness and vitality, and remind me how essential poetry is to exploring and articulating the imagination’s restless longing. This is a collection I am already looking forward to returning to. — Tarfia Faizullah
With fifty-three poems, On the Other Side of Silence is Mohammad Shafiqul Islam’s third collection of poetry. His two other collections are Inner State (Daily Star Books, 2020) and Wings of Winds (Adorn Publication, 2015).
The poems in this present collection, On the Other Side of Silence, address silence from a wide range of perspectives in relation to sounds and shades, dubbing silence as a powerful tool to resist violence and reclaim rights to voices to be heard. Although the collection deals with various themes and subject matters, a majority of the poems “celebrate silence,” since, the poet probably assumes, the world is turning more brutal amidst chaos day by day. Reality of the contemporary world is what the poems highlight. The poet is rooted in broadly South Asia and more specifically Bangladesh, his own country and culture, so most of the raw material of his poetry springs from his own land, but he also demonstrates his awareness, as the poems suggest, to countries and cultures across borders.
Sometimes, the poet exhibits his distinctive sense of humour and wit and irony as he writes the poems like ‘I have lodged a lawsuit against myself’ and ‘Spelling Mistake.’ Grief is another important theme that pervades the whole collection. According to the poet, grief is predominantly a verb, an action word, devastating inner harmony and a serene state of mind. In a world of ruckus and ruins created out of division and war, silence in the form of resistance can play a part, because violence invites more violence, whereas silence summons efflorescence of beauty along with unity and amity. The collection draws on silence, but it lauds rhythmic rhapsodies within one’s mind. The poems show that silence offers a wide range of meanings to open doors to light.
On the Other Side of Silence might be a valuable addition to Postcolonial poetry or South Asian writing in English in general and Bangladeshi poetry in English in particular. The stream called South Asian writing in English has already drawn international attention and many of the writers and poets are studied at both home and abroad at the tertiary level. Moreover, readership in Bangladesh, India, and beyond, especially around South Asia, is rising rapidly, and academics, creative writers, scholars, and critics are, no doubt, optimistic about its wider readership around the world.
Mohammad Shafiqul Islam is the author of two poetry collections, most recently Inner State, and the translator of, among others, Selected Poems: Rudra Muhammad Shahidullah, The Glorious Afternoon, Humayun Ahmed: Selected Short Stories, and Aphorisms of Humayun Azad. His work has appeared in various renowned international journals and magazines, including Journal of Postcolonial Writing, Critical Survey, Massachusetts Review, Five Points, Scrutiny2, Delos, Poem: International English Language Quarterly, Journal of World Literature, English in Education, Psychological Perspectives, Agenda, South Asian Review, English: Journal of the English Association, Journal of Poetry Therapy, The Review of English Studies, Journal of International Women’s Studies, Asia Pacific Translation and Intercultural Studies, Capitalism Nature Socialism, Comparative Literature: East & West, Modern Poetry in Translation, Dibur, Lunch Ticket, Vittles, and elsewhere. His poetry and translation have been anthologised in a number of books, such as The Book of Dhaka: A City in Short Fiction, The Best Asian Poetry 2021-22, Poems from SAARC Region 2013, When the Mango Tree Blossomed, An Ekushey Anthology 1952-2022, Kazi Nazrul Islam: Selections, Meet Human Meat and Other Stories, and Monsoon Letters: Collection of Poems. Currently at work on new poems and a few translation and research projects, Dr Islam is Professor in the Department of English at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh.
Reviews
Rituparna Mukherjee in The Daily Star
Broadly categorised, the poet tries to talk about three kinds of silences—the hegemonic, the complicit, and the writerly silence. The most vociferous silence in this book is the silence of complicity. The present world is drowning in noise, plunged into complete disarray and entropy by warring nations, factions out to get each other’s throats to solidify power in the name of faith, and bodies pile up in silence, brought on by a collective stance of ‘understanding’ such that language, history, and memory lose their meaning. In the very first poem, “The Central Jail of Silence”, the poet talks about this enforced silence, birthed in fear and misinformation, oppressing the very subjects that are meant to be the truth bearers: “Artists committing crimes through words / Or images or voice become jailbirds”.
Mahfuz Ul Hasib Chowdhury in Daily Asian Age
Let me start off with a few lines from the poem “The Central Jail of Silence” which bears a stunning reflection of Mohammad Shafiqul Islam’s power to juggle with metaphors and imagery. The poet has put silence inside prison with the words “You don’t pretend as you know how they set fire on trains of thought, on the asylum of ontologies”.
