“In A Fallen Citadel and Other Poems, Imali J. Abala reminds us that poetry can still do what it has always done: offer hope, insight, and consolation where there often seems to be none. These poems—part jeremiad, part manifesto—straddle the divide between lamentation and prayer, and many of Abala’s most striking images capitalize on this duality: [….] It’s hard not to think of the work of Nazim Hikmet and Mahmoud Darwish—exiles attempting from afar to rebuild the fallen citadels they left behind. And as rival ethnic groups are re-arming in anticipation of further violence around the 2013 elections, Abala’s clarion voice (“Save the bullet. Save your soul.”) couldn’t come at a better time.”
