I love The Emma Press for their gorgeous poetry pamphlets that are wrapped up in equally gorgeous covers – and their latest gift, In the Name of Red by Z. R. Ghani, lives up to this standard. As the title suggests, Ghani’s poetry centres on the theme of red. Whether that’s the pink-red of pomegranates or the orange tones of flames and autumn leaves, the colour red illuminates Ghani’s poetry in all of its vibrant glory.

In the Name of Red takes its central motif – red – in as many different directions as you can imagine

In a bold move, In the Name of Red opens with a poem all about, and from the perspective of, the colour red itself. ‘Reddest Red’ is in many ways a proud poem – our speaker, who is the ‘reddest of all reds’ (l. 1), delights in being better than the ‘lesser reds that shall / but one day bloom into me if they dare’ (ll. 17-18). But underneath the excitement and vivid metaphors of ‘reclining on a girl’s pretty lips’ (l. 16) and ‘diving into a dazzling / Diwali of fireflies’ (ll. 26-27) lurks a deep anxiety, as thrice we hear the speaker plea: ‘I need to exist’ (ll. 5, 12-13, & 28-29). This ‘Reddest Red’ is bright, bold, and ‘fortunate’ (l. 33), but it still feels the need to demand our attention, emphasising all the ways in which it is the best and foregrounding itself in the very first poem of the pamphlet. The blurb for In the Name of Red tells us that ‘something darker lurks beneath the ruby depths,’ and ‘Reddest Red’ certainly encapsulates this sentiment.

In the Name of Red takes its central motif – red – in as many different directions as you can imagine. ‘Mother’ invokes the red of childbirth and the ‘placenta’ in a poem that is a short but powerful punch about the difficulties of motherhood and postpartum depression. By contrast, ‘Lycan Boy’ explores lust and perceived lack of virtue, while ‘Sunday Evening in the Heat Wave’ is about, well, a Sunday evening in a heat wave.

Literary references add a satisfying extra level of depth to the poetry

A significant feature, though, is literary references. For example, ‘The Art of Cloying’ opens with the stunning line: ‘A book can be loved to death and not die.’ The poem then ends with what has to be one of the greatest rhyming couplet endings ever written: ‘my instincts grappled with Estella, Miss Sharp, Miss Eyre, / when I’d rummage their pages with laughter, tears, prayer.’ What a gorgeous love letter to literature. Jane Eyre gets another nod in ‘Moths of the Red Room,’ a poem in which the colour red becomes the speaker’s worst enemy: ‘[i]f a moth touches your eye, you’ll go blind / or worse—you’ll see nothing but red forever’ (ll. 3-4). These references are subtle enough for the poems to still be understandable to the reader who doesn’t know the books Ghani refers to. However, for the reader who does know these stories, the literary references add a satisfying extra level of depth to the poetry.

Red is one of my favourite colours, and Ghani does justice to every shade of it.

A moment must be given to Louise Weir, whose gorgeous cover illustration fits nicely with In the Name of Red without being too obvious or on-the-nose. A red ring in the corner appears to be a burning sun – or is it a ring of fire? – but the background is painted in various hues of yellow, while a figure dressed in a cloak of varying colours (including shades of red) dominates the page. Weir also contributes some illustrations within the pamphlet, of which my personal favourite is the final image: a small, delicate painting of an owl.

Overall, In the Name of Red is a stunning and emotional poetry pamphlet. Red is one of my favourite colours, and Ghani does justice to every shade of it.

(In the Name of Red by Z. R. Ghani will be published by The Emma Press on 24^th April.)

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