Universal Mother

In Universal Mother, Elif Sezen braids the intersections of domestic histories and spiritual evolution. She navigates the large themes: complementary concepts of separation and homecoming, visible and invisible, eternity and temporality, love and grief, irony and melancholy.

The world these poems conjure is one of imagination and mystical longing. The poets mother and the poet herself, as feminine, are the departure point for the persona in these poems, journeying haunted and at times ecstatic through surprising venues and occasions.

As myth-making for a self, and as social understanding, Elif Sezens imagery in this book bridges the personal and the collective, in a special sense. Reflecting upon her own transcultural identity, this work carries itself across boundaries between East and West.