“Rasaq Malik in The Other Names of Grief   dwells on these plaintive memories, turning the anguish into an epiphany in his new collection. In The Other Names of Grief, we are not only sifted through harrowing narratives of our time, but also we are given an alternative prism through which we can perceive griefs and calamities of this century. We are summoned to identify new names of grief and signifiers of agony. This choice opens new meaning for us wherein we can locate humanity and avert future catastrophe. Rasaq  bears witness to this awful trajectory of our time. The poet’s persona has no intent to terrify but to feed us with the troubling tales of the people in our troubling world. Yet, it is not only about telling, but also showing the unspeakable  and ugly spectacles of postcolonial Nigeria. Rasaq has been able to do this with deft and lucid application of language accompanied with searing imageries in the new chapbook titled, The Other Names of Grief. The question is, what are the other names of grief?  In this compendium of twenty-nine beautiful verses,  Malik explains the other names of grief in a way that devastates the most enduring spirit.”

-Akin Oseni