Mouth

'Some truths are hard to speak and even harder to discern. These rich and varied verses reveal truths that were there all along, uttered by women millennia ago, but waiting for the acuteness of Mona Arshi’s ear and the surety of her voice'

Christia Mercer, Gustave M. Berne Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University

'Delicately lethal; sharp-eyed and tender; Arshi's poems speak with devastating tongues of the truths and injustices that the world would rather we did not hear, in a voice as nuanced and contemporary as it is resonant across time’

Preti Taneja, author of We That Are Young

‘A beautiful, generous and empathetic collection, MOUTH is Mona's best yet: both personal and political, soulful and sensual, it gives such an interesting feeling of searching and remembering the past. Engaging with Classical tropes and both Ancient and contemporary wars, there is a clear sense of events, lessons and dynamics repeating. This is a mature work from a poet at the height of her powers’

Bidisha, author of Asylum and Exile

'Wildly imaginative ... Arshi has that rare gift of being able to persuade us to listen. ... Mouth is a book that turns the brain inside out – then beats it with a stick until the dust of ancient literature falls away… There is a spectacular wizardry to her [Arshi’s] words'

Jade Cuttle, Observer

This vivid collection forces us to witness the violence inherent in grief

Guardian