Ekphrases

About the Book

About the Book Book One of Ekphrases is the third book of poetry by Saad Ali. It’s the first installment in his anthology of ekphrases. On this occasion, the poems are born out of Ali’s interpretations of the artworks (paintings) of various Western (European and American) artists—from past and present. The poems are not merely descriptions or elaborations of the themes, messages, subjects and objects of and in the paintings, but rather his poetic discourse is much more engaging in that it is an embodiment of the stories within stories of human stories—manifesting as the consequence of an interaction between (the minds of) a philosopher-poet and an artist. Also, the main components of Ali’s poetic discourse i.e. contemplation and satire become prominent—embodying reflections on the fundamental questions of why, what, how, when, where, and who vis-à-vis existence and being (in general) and, more specifically, the human condition(s). Here, the instances of the phenomena of love, hate, fear, courage, nostalgia, remorse, redemption et cetera have been invoked—even at the subjective level. As always, the book is an invitation to all for both an individual and a collective contemplative and reflective odyssey. So that we may be able to interpret and comprehend the intricacies and niceties of existence and human life in a better (and/or different) way.

About the Author

Saad Ali was born in Okara, Pakistan in 1980. He is an existential philosopher–poet. He has been brought up in Pakistan and the UK. He completed BSc and MSc in Management from University of Leicester, UK. He is a consultant (marketing, communications and research), lecturer, and trainer/mentor by profession. He possesses a broader world view, which is a result of his experiences gained from having lived in a variety of cultural settings. The cogs of Saad’s existential machinery are oiled by the muses of arts. The main components of his poetic discourse include: contemplation and satire. Some of his influences include: Vayasa, Homer, Ovid, Bastami, Rumi, Ghalib, Nietzsche and Tagore—to name a few. Previously, he has published two books of poetry i.e. Ephemeral Echoes (2018) and Metamorphoses: Poetic Discourses (2019). His current projects include: translating the poetry of Bulleh Shah (Sufi poet), Allama Muhammad Iqbal (philosopher poet) and Faiz Ahmad Faiz (philosopher poet) from the Punjabi, Urdu and Farsi (Persian) into the English language. He is fond of travelling by train and exploring cities/towns on foot. He likes learning languages. He appreciates different cuisines. His favourite sport is putting his gray matter to test at chess. To know more about him and his work, please visit his website https://www.saadalipoetry.com, or his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/owlofpines.