The poetry in this collection weaves together South Asian migrant experiences contextualized by mythical and mystical traditions. The poems explore Sufism, tales from and about Partition, migrant nostalgia, and negotiations of postcolonial multiculturalism. Ranging from prose poems to Qawwali-inspired lyrical verse, the collection explores prominent South Asian cultural forms, centering the traditions that are often unsettled or lost due to migration and colonialism. Taken as a connected narrative, the collection tells a story of intimacy and estrangement, within cultures and the self.

“Crescendo introduces us to a new poetic voice that explores what it is to be Muslim and Canadian today. In poems that celebrate and consider his Pakistan birthplace, his beliefs and his adopted country, Mekyle Ali Qadir is a traveler at the ready to delve into and understand what lies within the things that have shaped him and prepare him to set out and take new footsteps on his journey. Carefully crafted, these poems provide readers with a fascinating glimpse into the lives of those who have chosen to live in a new country while at the same time retain strong memories and emotional connections to their place of origin.”

– Blaine Marchand, author of Aperture and Becoming History: A Life Told Through Poetry

“Infused with Sufi wisdom, Mekyle Ali Qadir’s Crescendo retains a deep awareness of human fallibility in the face of the infinite. This wide-ranging debut simultaneously encompasses visionary ecstasy with the hard-won clarity of an observer of the real: “… yet the whistles of the thrush/and the nightcalls of the myna/can’t keep out the distant gunfire.” Haunted by legacies of partition, the poems articulate the layered sorrows of the South Asian diaspora and the search for home.”

– David Stymeist, Professor of English at Carleton University, author of Cluster Flux

“Here is a resonating vulnerability—a collection that simultaneously stuns and mystifies with its emotional intimacy and curious nature. It is a crucial meditation on our surroundings, and brings the reader to focus on the details that we take for granted. Each of the poems in Crescendo are cold breaths, deep prayers, and bursts of soulful dialogue. Mekyle Ali Qadir is an excellent new entry into the Canadian poetry scene, and his work here is a brilliant light that promises to illuminate the dark corners of identity, of belonging, and of the questions we have gathered the courage to ask ourselves. This is a fantastic debut from Qadir that will leave readers both emotionally fulfilled, and wanting more.”

– Fareh Malik, author of Streams that Lead Somewhere