The Leaf of the Neem Tree
A meditative collection of poems and short stories, contemplating turbulence and repose.
24 June 2021
Paperback / 9781914221019
ebook / 9781914221071
128 pages
‘What if writing drew a circle around us … whispered aloud, and said in our hearts, both at once—to clean the blood, yes. This is that, written in a vernacular for us as we sit in our cities, dreaming of burning palms.’
— Zarina Muhammad, The White Pube
Known for their bitter taste, neem leaves have been used for centuries in South Asian traditional medicine. In The Leaf of the Neem Tree, Jamal Mehmood unravels bitter truths that come with growing out of youth and confronting the concrete realities of our world.
Weaving free verse and ghazal, English with Urdu, the poems lead the reader through the author’s wandering mind, which moves from Gillingham to Kashmir; Ghassan Kanafani to Mansour Hallaj. We also peer into the worlds of a struggling graduate dealing with the harshness of life after university; a shipman who finds himself swimming to England; and a man who decided to leave England behind altogether.
Balancing movement with pause, this impeccable collection deals in the alchemy of introspection—the quietness of loss, longing, memory and spirituality.
Jamal Mehmood is a poet, writer and filmmaker whose work has been featured by the BBC, Magma, Popula, Hikaayat and Media Diversified. He was shortlisted for the Outspoken Prize for Poetry in Film in 2019, won the national Poetry Rivals in 2016, and is an alumnus of the UniSlam post-emerging cohort of poets. His film Muriid was released in 2021 by the Institute of Contemporary Arts and the BBC as part of the New Creatives scheme. He lives in London.
Listen along to Jamal Mehmood’s curated playlist for The Leaf of the Neem Tree.
‘Rejuvenates the reading spirit … creates a deep and philosophical, almost ecstatic experience.’
— Islamic Literary Society
‘Stirringly compassionate … somehow captures the sentiment of Urdu poetry in the context of British capitalism’s brutalising drudgery.’
— Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan, author of Postcolonial Banter
‘One of the best specimens of the emerging discipline of British Muslim poetry.’
— Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, Dean of Cambridge Muslim College
‘A beautiful, intimate collection … Mehmood writes with soft grace and an unfaltering belief in divine benevolence, allowing us to clean the blood and imagine a better world.’
— Hussein Kesvani, author of Follow Me, Akhi
‘Willing to bear witness to the sacred in the everyday, Mehmood writes with unwavering humility of God, of grief, of grace.’
— Victoria Adukwei Bulley, author of Girl B
‘In the homes so brilliantly illustrated in these poems, there is refuge, comfort and joy.’
— Gboyega Odubanjo, author of While I Yet Live
Press
Writing through Faith, Jamal Mehmood
— Bayt Al Fann, 21 March 2022
— The Islamic Literary Society, 12 February 2022
VIDEO: Winter Reading List 2 – Abdal Hakim Murad (7:36)
— Cambridge Muslim College, YouTube, 17 December 2021
Radio interview with Jamal Mehmood (2:35:00)
— Inspirit with Jumoke Fashola, BBC Radio London, 4 July 2021