50 poems:: 30 Selected 20 New

The 30 Selected and 20 New that comprise 50 POEMS have been chosen to present a concise and representative volume of Zulfikar Ghose' poetry for the general reader and for scholars specialising in contemporary English poetry and post-colonial literature.

The earliest of the selected poems-first published almost fifty years ago in The Times Literary Supplement, The London Magazine, New Statesman, The Spectator, and broadcast on the BBC Third Programme-established Zulfikar Ghose as Pakistan's premier English-language poet. Deracination, an obsessive theme in the early work, resonates as a metaphor for the human condition and gives the poems their universal appeal.

The new poems draw upon a wider experience, ranging from an elegy on Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to a meditation on an old Argentine bank note, all heightened by a philosophical underpinning which is a hallmark of Zulfikar Ghose' work. An impeccable craftsman and creator of striking images, whose themes touch the core of human experience, he is a poet of lasting significance: 50 POEMS presents his essential work.