Hi Everyone,

I've neglected this blog for a while now.  I'm going to blame grad school since that's an easy and plausible excuse.  I'm trying to get back in the interwebz game now though, and I'm doing that via a new website.  The blog feature isn't quite up and running yet, but once it is, I'll be providing updates there.

So, if you're so inclined, you can find me at www.nazifaislam.com - and, even if you're not so inclined, thanks for reading these past four years.

Cheers,
Nazifa

Random Musing
You may have noticed that I've been neglecting this blog for a while now. You'll have to blame grad school. I still don't have the time for regular updates, but I did want to give you links to a few new (well, new to this blog anyhow) poem publications.

You can find "Manhandled" in the 2013 fall issue (I know, I know, I'm ridiculously late with this) of The Rathalla Review.

And if you buy a copy of the latest issue of Kindred Magazine, you'll be able to read "Let's Slow Dance Together" alongside some other excellent creative work.

Cheers, everyone.

Quotation
"The desire to say words overcame him and he said words without meaning, rolling them over on his tongue and saying them because they were brave words, full of meaning. 'Death,' he muttered, 'night, the sea, fear, loveliness.'" -Sherwood Anderson, "An Awakening" from Winesburg, Ohio

Random Musing
Gold Man Review published my poem "Spring Visions" in their third issue about a month ago.  I forgot to mention it here for two reasons: 1) This last term of school was incredibly busy and I kept forgetting I even had a blog and 2) Gold Man Review isn't an online journal that you can take a look at for free and I kind of doubted you'd want to buy a copy to read my one small poem.  I admit that I might not have enough faith in you readers.  Fortunately, I just learned that the Kindle edition of the third issue is actually free until January 5th!  So you can read my tiny poem for free if you jump on that offer.  You can get the issue here!

Quotation
"And there is the fallacy of existence: the idea that one would be happy forever and aye with a given situation or series of accomplishments. Why did Virginia Woolf commit suicide? Or Sara Teasdale—or the other brilliant women—neurotic? Was their writing sublimation (oh horrible word) of deep, basic desires? If only I knew. If only I knew how high I could set my goals, my requirements for my life! I am in the position of a blind girl playing with a slide-ruler of values. I am not at the nadir of my calculating powers.
The future? God—will it get worse & worse? Will I never travel, never integrate my life, never have purpose, meaning? Never have time—long stretches to investigate ideas, philosophy—to articulate the vague seething desires in me?" -Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

Random Musing
The folks over at Blue Fifth Review included my painting "Deep Sea" in their September issue! You can check it out here.

Random Musing
Whitepoint Press just released my collection Searching for a Pulse! They accepted the collection last September (which you know if you've stuck with this blog for a long long time) and it's surreal to have it finally out in the world. Surreal in the best possible way of course. (The line from Notting Hill when Hugh Grant's character says meeting Anna was "surreal but nice" just popped into my head. Okay, tangent over.)

It's available both on the Whitepoint website as well as on Amazon, and there's even a Kindle version if you're really into your e-reader. Having just gotten a Kindle, I totally understand if that's the way you choose to go. They really are super snazzy.

If you do end up buying the book, I want to take this opportunity to thank you - though I'll happily thank you in the real world too if our paths cross. I really appreciate all the support I've gotten regarding this collection - in fact, it's rather humbling. Thank you for supporting my work even if poetry (let alone morbid Sylvia Plath inspired poetry) isn't really your thing. It means a lot.