Chaos, Crossing by Olivia Elias, Translated from French by Kareem James Abu-Zeid

In her English-language debut, acclaimed French-language poet of the Palestinian diaspora Olivia Elias probes deeply into the upheavals of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Foreword by Najwan Darwish CHAOS, CROSSING--translated by award-winning translator Kareem James Abu-Zeid--is a powerful chronicle of uprootedness, of times marked by inequality, injustice, and disconnection. These poems--presented here in a bilingual edition--seek the calm at the center of the storm, the still point amidst the chaos. "Each of Olivia Elias's powerful poems sparkles with the unexpected: exile puts down roots in time, healing is a Ferris wheel, and loss a slough that leads to language. Kareem James Abu-Zeid's translations are delicate and wonderful. This book is a joy to read."--Jennifer Croft "Olivia Elias, child of the Nakba, is a world citizen, resident at one time or another of Lebanon, Canada, France. But as a poet, she remains a Palestinian, inhabited by the landscape, the language, crea