Night of the Fire by Ali C.
Night of the Fire
by Ali C.
Ethel Zine & Micro Press
May 2025
Night of the Fire by Ali C., forthcoming from Ethel, is a poetry chapbook that “winnows its way through the heart to find light, and in the odyssey of its sweet carnage, makes you cry and ache with hope.”
I had the privilege of getting to review this chapbook early, and it is an absolutely exceptional collection!
Ali’s poetry does so much work in a small book. The precision of each line and sentence, and their impacts on mood and meaning, is frankly staggering. This is a writer who clearly thinks very thoroughly about every word, which is both admirable in his effort and enviable in his success.
The poems of Night of the Fire are not afraid of reflecting on violence, grief, and reverence. They take physical, sexual, emotional, self-inflicted, and community beatings to heart, unfurling fist after first into cupped hands ready for holding peace, acceptance, justice, and the hands of everyone else hurting. There is a compassion at the heart of every poem that’s aware of pity but instead chooses empathy and, at times, accountability over accusation.
The sonics (one of my personal greatest joys in reading poetry) in Night of the Fire are magnificent in their movement. The flow of mouth-full diction throughout each piece — hard consonants hitting one after another, smooth S’s and vowels hooking words into each other, all propelling you with such intention — left little room for breath, questions, or hesitations in sentiment. Much like the subjects broached throughout the collection, the pace is often unrelenting and demands immediate comprehension for quick (re)action. Then, when there is white space that forces slowness, such as is in the latter stanzas of “The Ventriloquist,” there’s almost too much breath taken in during those breaks, overwhelming your lungs and begging your eyes to grasp at the next line.
Form and structure are key elements at work in this chapbook. From the densely packed paragraphs of “Origin Story” (reminiscent of the obsessed thoughts and strategies around fullness/thickness that come with disordered eating) to the numbered sections of “Fairy Tale Intermezzo” (reminiscent of storybooks themselves). Even zooming in on the syntax in each piece, like the clipped clauses that clunk and race you through the short line lengths in “Aperture,” there is rich craft apparent. “White Balloon” is a standout against the certainty of tone elsewhere in the chapbook, utilizing (sometimes rhetorical) questions as their main type of sentence and thematic interrogation. The following lines from “White Balloon” even call into thought the poem’s placement three-fifths into the collection, heightening the attention put into sequence as well:
“Come to think of it, why did the ending of the story come
before the beginning of the poem?”
Likewise, allusion and metaphor elevate scenes and sentiments already welcoming connection to the reader, deepening meanings and further blossoming images in your mind’s eye. From fairy tales to Greek myths to pop songs to poetic history and more, Ali employs thematic and culturally relevant references that bloom fresh ideas about the different ways people consume each other’s identities, bodies, safety, and preoccupation. A particular favorite strategy I enjoyed throughout the book was when a poem broke the fourth-wall, calling back on itself to question the purpose of itself or poetry at large, such as juxtaposing grief and beauty in the use of poetry as a coping mechanism with thinking about Palestine and about self-perspective in “Gentlest of Bleeding Things.”
Overall, Night of the Fire reads like a themed “Best Hits” album of Ali’s poetry, and that’s coming from someone new to his work. I’m encouraging us ALL to seek out more of his writing, and keep our eyes on future awards with his name on it — because those are definitely on the horizon, especially for this chapbook. Truly an outstanding contemporary poet.
Night of the Fire releases this month! Learn more about the collection and pre-order your copy HERE. (Act fast, there will only be a limited print of 60 copies!)
Thank you to Ali for the complimentary ARC of this title! I appreciate the early opportunity to read your work and look forward to seeing the final release out in the world. :)
— Kylie