“Tell me, what is there left to become?” Farah Ghafoor asks in her debut poetry collection, Shadow Price. This question not only reflects the tension between present and future in an era of ecological disaster, but also the core of a poet’s debut — what niche is left to occupy, what unknown is left to express as a new poet claiming her voice? I carried this with me as I made my way through the following poetic landscape, led by a speaker searching the surreal and the smouldering for a new way forward.
I have always been drawn to writing that retains an awareness of itself, that balances artful deception with moments of sincerity. Throughout this collection, the speaker of Shadow Price maintains an open line of self-questioning: “What is / poetry at the intersection. The cars crash regardless.” As an early-career writer from the same generation as Ghafoor, I resonate strongly with the speaker’s anxiety, walking the line between creation and despair. I was inspired by the delicacy with which these poems balance the two elements, how the same scene can be equally coloured by tenderness and pain. One of my favourites from late in the collection, “The Pear,” comes as a sudden moment of glory in the midst of bleaching a bathroom: “I envied too the light that cooed over the pear / as a seed, the branch that rocked it sweetly / as it swelled with inarticulable desire. / And later, the bird with first access / to its ten hearts, the grassy bed that cradled it / far from the disagreements of the seasons.”
The speaker’s keen awareness of language also extends beyond the individual and toward the intersections of text and power. Ghafoor’s command of lyric reacts frequently and unpredictably with research, creating bursts of alchemical energy across the collection: “The year I was born, we defined climate change denial. / It was the perfect name: three little words / to fit inside a sob.” Throughout long poems that form complete sections of the collection, Ghafoor draws upon a rich variety of disciplines, from finance to history, forestry, and linguistics to create intricate poetic architecture. I know I will return to these pieces and notice further detail each time — the mark of a thoughtful and precise collection.
I was invigorated by the pure polyphonic ambition of Shadow Price. I’m excited to discover this courageous new voice in contemporary poetry, and to take heart from Ghafoor’s work in navigating an uncertain global future.
— Eva Haas is a queer artist and poet from Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland). They have a BA in writing and history from the University of Victoria and served as the City of Victoria’s eleventh youth poet laureate from 2023 to 2025.
You can read Eva Hass' poem "Postcards" in Issue 307 (Spring 2026). Order the issue now!
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