on the last day of ramzan, the moon makes the sun in its image by Manahil Bandukwala
CBC Books | Posted: November 7, 2024 2:30 PM | Last Updated: November 7
The Ottawa-based writer is on the 2024 CBC Poetry Prize longlist
Manahil Bandukwala has made the 2024 CBC Poetry Prize longlist for on the last day of ramzan, the moon makes the sun in its image.
The winner of the 2024 CBC Poetry Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and have their work published on CBC Books. The four remaining finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books.
The shortlist will be announced on Nov. 14 and the winner will be announced on Nov. 21.
If you're interested in the CBC Literary Prizes, the 2025 CBC Nonfiction Prize opens in January and the 2025 CBC Poetry Prize will open in April.
About Manahil Bandukwala
Manahil Bandukwala is a writer, editor and visual artist. She is the author of Heliotropia (Brick Books, 2024) and Monument which was shortlisted for the 2023 Gerald Lampert Award. Bandukwala was selected as a Writer's Trust of Canada Rising Star in 2023. She is the co-creator of Reth aur Reghistan, a multidisciplinary project exploring folklore from Pakistan through poetry, sculpture and community arts.
Bandukwala was previously longlisted for the 2019 CBC Poetry Prize for her poem To ride an art horse.
Entry in five-ish words
"Living while witnessing a genocide."
The poem's source of inspiration
"A total solar eclipse occurred over the eastern and central parts of Canada in April of 2024. Witnessing the eclipse was magical, and so was noticing the impact it had on everyone gathered on a beach along Lake Erie. The day of the eclipse was also the last day of Ramadan, which leads into Eid, a day of celebration for Muslims. But there's also a deep grief in the idea of celebrating safely while a genocide occurs, essentially livestreamed onto our phones. This grief, fear, and anger has been a constant state for over a year, for Palestine and Lebanon and Sudan and more. And, I think, is important to hold even as we find our small joys in our lives."
First lines
the day before eid
the whole family lines up along a lake
so great only the horizon is visible
the whole family lines up along a lake
so great only the horizon is visible
we spread out on an old blanket over sand
crane our necks
now know what it is
to be an imam
awake every night watching the sky
for that perfect
slice
crane our necks
now know what it is
to be an imam
awake every night watching the sky
for that perfect
slice
Check out the rest of the longlist
The longlist was selected from more than 2,700 submissions. A team of 12 writers and editors from across Canada compiled the list.
The jury selects the shortlist and the eventual winner from the readers' longlisted selections. This year's jury is composed of Shani Mootoo, Garry Gottfriedson and Emily Austin.
The complete longlist is:
- Borderland by Howard Anglin (Calgary)
- on the last day of ramzan, the moon makes the sun in its image by Manahil Bandukwala (Ottawa)
- Lament by Jessica Bebenek (Montreal)
- Citrus Dreams by Elena Bentley (Clavet, Sask.)
- When it's 9:48pm and the kids are asleep and you realize you've spent the entire night on your phone by Nicole Boyce (Calgary)
- ABC Gum by Devlin (Halifax)
- scar/city I by Daniela Elza (Vancouver)
- I Thought I Might by Tamsyn Farr (Wakefield, Que.)
- Score Before Cutting by Claire Gordon (Ucluelet, B.C.)
- There is no neutral way to say I was fourteen by Cicely Grace (Vancouver)
- After Icebergs by Matthew Hollett (St. John's)
- a house in O's name by Eimear Laffan (Nelson, B.C.)
- Gas Station Coffee by Paula Lemke (Langley, B.C.)
- magdalene sonnets by Louie Leyson (Vancouver)
- 吃苦 (Eat the Bitterness) by Emily Yiling Ma (Burnaby, B.C.)
- Kananaskis by Kathleen McCracken (Belfast, Northern Ireland)
- A Tenuous Life Act, I Lay Dreaming by Sasha Pickering (Halifax)
- Regeneration and other poems by Katherine Poyner (Nanaimo, B.C.)
- Girls of the Now by Dora Prieto (Vancouver)
- No Apples and Oranges by Marion Quednau (Sechelt, B.C.)
- i'll expect big things from the moon later tonight by c. a. r. rafuse (Ottawa)
- Song for the Earth and the Water by Harold Rhenisch (Vernon, B.C.)
- Palimpsest County by Rachel Robb (Toronto)
- Doom Scroll by Jenny Sampirisi (Toronto)
- Northern Childhood by Eleonore Schönmaier (Ketch Harbour, N.S.)
- Some Notes on Intoxication and Simile: Like Butterscotch by Catherine St. Denis (Victoria)
- The Killer and the Harpist by Catherine St. Denis (Victoria)
- The Rupture by Ayşe Lara Yildirim (Toronto)