Jai Hamid Bashir : part one

Born to Pakistani-American immigrant artists, Jai Hamid Bashir was raised in The American West. Jai has been published by The American Poetry Review, Black Warrior Review, Guernica Magazine, The Cortland Review, Academy of American Poets, and others. Jai is a graduate of Columbia University and the recent winner of awards such as Zócalo’s Ninth Annual Poetry Prize.

Photo credit: Jordan Finlay

How does a poem begin?

Poetry and dreams are obvious bedfellows for my practice. Writing is a complex sensory experience. I often observe the poem in what I can best describe as my “mind’s eye,”  and then seek to find the most precise linguistic textures and music for that particular image. I  often position myself as a poet as someone who also trained as a painter and performer, but found poetry to be the best craft and medium by which to share a phenomenon that happens quite naturally.