Bayani’s third poetry collection considers how we might cultivate life in times of oppression and upheaval. With this collection of poems, Jason Bayani leans into traditions of lyric, song, and prayer to cultivate life while existing within a time of empire and societal collapse.
Everyone I Love, Alivewrestles with form to summon both the living and the dead. Bayani’s rich language calls us to experience a connection to cultural heritage and, even during times of oppression, to find the compassion and awareness needed to drive change. These poems show how not only our love and desires—but also our rage and resistance—can be the very things that keep us alive.
Jason Bayaniis the author of Locus and Amulet, and his work has been published in
World Literature Today,
Poem-a-day,
Diode Editions, the
Offing, and others. He is the co-executive director of Kearny Street Workshop, the oldest multi-disciplinary Asian-Pacific American arts organization in the country.
"Reading Bayani’s tender, searing collection is like bearing witness to a modern-day harana: a lover under the beloved’s window, singing out from the heart. Only here the beloved is the world; the future; the possibility of liberation. Bayani’s lucid, questing poems sing to these endangered things with a voice full of heartache, fury and hope—knowing too that a serenade, like any poem, is a way to share the breath of life. These poems do just that: they see that which is nearly lost, nearly gone and then they go to work—they resuscitate."
"This is—dare I say—Bayani’s most mystical book, a mighty alchemy of prayer and fury that was, for me, an invitation to feel with the honesty of water. A loss beyond language pulses through these poems; in its wake, a homecoming to stillness that’s deeply reparative and surprisingly thrillinlSo
![Everyone I Love, Alive [Paperback]](/itemImage/2/5/4/4/2_7169145.jpg "Everyone I Love, Alive [Paperback]")