The Unknowable Mystery of Other People - Sally Zakariya

A Poetry Box Chapbook Prize (2018) Finalist

Take a peek into the mystery of other people as Sally Zakariya shares stories of those she knows, those she remembers from childhood, and the ones she’s merely observed throughout her daily walk in life. Each poem serves as an introduction where the poet invites us to meet this man, this woman, these folks. Not only are we invited to bear witness to their lives, but we come to realize our common ground—our humanity—rather than focusing on the differences.

Advance Praise for The Unknowable Mystery of Other People:

Sally Zakariya’s The Unknowable Mystery of Other People is a revelation. The elegant poems in this collection are each small but vividly drawn portraits of unique characters, from the disabled veteran begging coins to pay for his friend’s funeral, to the Aunties baking their distinctive cakes and pies, to the Islamic calligrapher lunching with Allah. And every portrait tells a story—and a truth. We see the famous Irish giant towering above us when she writes: “Black hair, big jaw, coke-bottle glasses./He was so tall his legs refused to fit/in any ordinary car.” And we glimpse something of the soul of the watchmaker’s one-eyed wife when Zakariya tells us: “Today a watch has died, hands frozen still…/Single-eyed, she resurrects it.” Even for the “Nobody,” “Death knew his name, called him by it.” What seems unknowable becomes known, and the reader cannot help but find the mystery and the humanity in each of her varied subjects.

~ Charan Sue Wollard, Author, In My Other Life and The Magician’s Wife

With spare but select words, Sally Zakariya reveals the essence of a person and transforms often-ordinary experiences of life into vital vignettes. On the lawn outside a smoldering house “a man sat at a scorched piano…pajamas/soot-smudged…fingers finding solace in familiar keys.” Of a homeless vet accepting coins at the intersection she notes “Desert Storm destroyed his legs, the V.A. failed/to fix them, still he jokes with his regulars.” Her poetry moves from existential questions arising during an eye exam to sweet memories revealed between lines of cake recipes—on each page, witnessing the extraordinary potential often lying just below everyday encounters.

~ Rebecca King Leet, Living with the Doors Wide Open