“Startlingly fecund, culturally shrewd, grounded in bright particulars and sly juxtapositions, Anis Shivani shows us with diamond brilliance what happens when language takes leave of its day job to exult in its real power. No longer the bean counter of ordinary doings, it becomes its own freedom, conscious of itself as beacon of what we could achieve, were we to realize the wisdom of Emerson’s remark that the ultimate American trope is surprise.”

— David Rigsbee, author of School of the Americas and Not Alone in My Dancing: Essays and Reviews

“These poems are an homage to all that is ‘great’ about humanity, but, and maybe more importantly, they are also a skeptical, intelligent, and necessary confrontation with that greatness. Which is to say, Anis Shivani is in conversation with the best—the best poets, writers, and thinkers, from antiquity to now—and he is handling his own, with gravitas, humor, and originality.”

— Hayan Charara, author of The Alchemist’s Diary and editor of Inclined to Speak: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Poetry

“Writing to, about, after and through poets and poetry, picking through erotic detritus and stylistic loot, all’s unfair game in Whatever Speaks on Behalf of Hashish. Somewhere between a cry in the wilderness and a survival guide, taking whatever it takes from colonizers who themselves took it from the colonized, glutted with image and strung together with deadly sense: this is a big book, a full book, fevered and horny and tired. A cry is a compromised song, or a song is an ornate cry. Anis Shivani is a poet calling out to poets, seeking how a poet can and won’t survive.”

— Kate Schapira, author of How We Saved the City and The Soft Place

“Both arresting and inventive, Anis Shivani’s new poems reveal a rich sense of wonder at this complex thing we call humanity. Smart, unflinching, and relevant—this book demands rereading.”

— Ryan G. Van Cleave, author of The Florida Letters and editor of City of the Big Shoulders: An Anthology of Chicago Poetry