Posthumous Poems from Paradise - Zakariya Amataya | Shortlisted for SEA Write

Posthumous Poems from Paradise
Shortlisted for the 2025 S.E.A. Write Award (Poetry)

By Zakariya Amataya (S.E.A. Write Laureate, Author of "No Women in Poetry")

Fourteen years since the seminal No Women in Poetry (2010) and over a decade after But in Us It Is Deep as the Sea (2013), Zakariya Amataya returns with Posthumous Poems from Paradise. This long-awaited collection is the culmination of years of intellectual ferment, offering a profound illumination of the author’s evolving existential landscape.

In this latest odyssey, Amataya transcends traditional boundaries, weaving a masterful tapestry of free verse and prose poetry. The collection challenges the rigid delineations of belief, socio-cultural norms, and political structures, yet remains deeply anchored in the author’s ancestral roots. Through the sophisticated interplay of metaphor, temporal distortion, and memory, the text invites rigorous hermeneutic engagement. His language—distilled through a philosophical lens—possesses a rhythmic gravity that seamlessly marries minimalist aesthetics with profound ontological depth.

The title serves as a poignant paradox: if Paradise represents the pinnacle of transcendental perfection, then these "posthumous" dispatches act as a bridge—a reflection of our flawed human condition transmitted to an ideal realm. The verses dwell in the liminal spaces between life and mortality, love and bereavement, conflict and tranquility, power and vulnerability. They grapple with the tensions between liberation and bondage, and the fragile intersection of faith and disillusionment.

Posthumous Poems from Paradise functions as both a witness to and an experiential record of our era. It beckons the reader to contemplate the intrinsic value of existence while addressing those who have already transcended this earthly plane. Ultimately, this collection reveals the stark dichotomy between the fractured reality of human experience and the sublime ideals we perpetually pursue.

Details
▪️Format : Paperback
▪️Piyavit Tepumnuaysakul : Editor-in-Chief
▪️Aekkasit Thiamtham : Editor
▪️Designed by ● SM STUDIO | Chirawat Rotaim ●
▪️Published : Aug 2024
▪️Length : 240 pages
▪️ISBN : 978-616-562-067-3
▪️Dimensions (cm) : 16.5 x 16
▪️Price : 350 THB