Kim Jensen is a writer who has lived and taught in California, France, and the Middle East.
She and her husband Palestinian painter Zahi Khamis
have been active in human rights movements for many years.... MORE -
Interview with Kim for National Poetry Month&
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The Only Thing That Matters |
Bread Alone |
The Woman I Left Behind |
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The Only Thing That Matters, “In a time when the ordinary and the predictable prevail in poetry, this collection by Kim Jensen gives us a truly original poetry of witness. In its very genesis, Jensen’s work articulates an engagement that is playful and innovative, yet willful and defiant. There are quickenings in here, walk-alongs within walk-alongs. Finely crafted and marvelously inventive, these poems sing and hiss and howl. They enliven and push and love.” --Naomi Ayala, author of Wild Animals on the Moon and This Side of Early “By applying a complex algorithm to fellow poet Fanny Howe’s work, Kim Jensen creates poems that honor Howe’s directive to reinstate words in the world by “...liturgy or random encounters.” Like the medieval women writers who included passages from other women authors in their own works, Jensen’s homage results in poetry as a form of hospitality, a way of being truly open to the world. “Ordinary speech seems like a sin to me,” writes Jensen, so she gifts us with this miraculous celebration of all that is both spiritual and worldly.” --Tina Darragh, author of Striking Resemblance “In this lucid collection, Kim Jensen moves between intimate address and an engagement with the world, connecting perception with perception with subtlety and distinction. Jensen’s deftness in creating her own ‘poetic logic’ offers pleasing jolts of surprise in a conceptual project that is original and compelling.” —Elizabeth Robinson, author of The Orphan and Its Relations |
“Kim Jensen’s poems are searing and spare. They will haunt you and stretch your vision. You won’t be the same person after reading them that you were before. —Naomi Shihab Nye, author of HabibiandGoing, Going “In this provocative collection, Kim Jensen gives voice to the struggle of those who seek love in a world saturated with brutality and aggression. The concise lyrics in Bread Alone condemn the violence in Iraq, Palestine, and Lebanon, while exploring the intimate consequences of these and other injustices.” |
“A beautifully written and promising first novel” —Middle East Studies Association Bulletin “The Woman I Left Behind tells the story of a love between a Palestinian student and a young American woman. This remarkable debut novel explores the difficulties of an intercultural relationship, and it gives us a rare glimpse into Palestinian history and culture. Set in Southern California during the first Gulf War with flashback scenes in Jerusalem and Beirut, The Woman I Left Behind reveals the cultural dilemmas that inevitably occur when lovers from different worlds come together.” |