Beginning Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

Dear Friend,

Welcome to a new year. I hope it brings with it health and happiness, and perhaps some new (or renewed) goals and commitments. If one of them is reading, particularly reading with increased mindfulness, then you’ve come to the right place!

This month is our twenty-eighth in the Contemplative Reading Project. In these two plus years together, we’ve read an incredible and eclectic range of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry of all types, and this year we’ll continue to expand our horizons with additional first-for-us genres, like the graphic novel.

But we begin with a highly acclaimed work of fiction, Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar.

Cyrus Shams is a young man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother’s plane was shot down over the skies of the Persian Gulf in a senseless accident; and his father’s life in America was circumscribed by his work killing chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is a drunk, an addict, and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past—toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying, and toward his mother, through a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed.

Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning—in faith, art, ourselves, others. —Publisher’s description

About the Author

Kaveh Akbar’s poems appear in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Paris Review, The Best American Poetry, and elsewhere. He is the author of two poetry collections: Pilgrim Bell and Calling a Wolf a Wolf, in addition to a chapbook, Portrait of the Alcoholic. He is also the editor of The Penguin Book of Spiritual Verse: 110 Poets on the Divine. He lives in Iowa City. —Publisher’s description

Contemplative reading asks us not just what we’re learning about the book in our hands (or ears), but what we’re learning about ourselves through the experience of reading it. The aim is to create deeper awareness of ourselves and understanding of others. It is often described as “holistic,” but also as “heart-knowing.”

Heart-knowing. Doesn’t that sound nice?

• January 1: Introduction Post

• January 15: Progress Post (Chapter 1 through 15)

• January 29: Wrap-Up Post

Each set of reading will guide my responses here on the blog and on social media. I will sometimes share the most provocative line or passage, and what it makes me think about. Other times, I’ll ask questions about the reading, things I’m wondering about or confused about. And still further, I might compare what I’m reading to what it reminds me of from other readings or experiences. I don’t want to give too much guidance about how to read, except to say, read attentively, read slowly, and listen to yourself. What thoughts and feelings arise as you’re reading? Write them down and give yourself some moments to reflect on why you’re thinking what you’re thinking, or why you’re feeling what you’re feeling.

I encourage you to join these conversations and leave your thoughts in the blog comments or on your socials. On social media, please use #theCRPblog.

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language, And next year’s words await another voice.” --T.S. Eliot

May you love openly,

~Adam

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