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Pervin Saket

A Theory of Knots

A Theory of Knots

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Forthcoming in November 2026

These lyric, unsparing poems stitch together a story of identity, belonging, and dissolution.

There is a peculiar satisfaction in untying a knot. You tug at one end, your fingers reading the loops and entanglements, until the hold is finally released, like an exhale. Most knots, however, remain in disguise, as absolutes, as inheritances. We call them tradition, borders, religion, marriage, law, and yes, even language. The poems in A Theory of Knots begin here, with the suspicion that what ties us together is also what keeps us apart.

The five sections in this volume pull at myth and memory, home and skin, DNA and desire, asking what connects us—and at what cost.

By turns and returns, Pervin Saket’s poems linger over our constructs, examining why they’ve come to feel so inevitable. When does a name become a story? How does a story become a certainty? Where does certainty become a knot? 

If you are ordering from India, your order will be shipped from Seagull Books, Calcutta. Shipping is free for orders above ₹999. It takes a maximum of 7 working days your order to be delivered.

If you are ordering from the US or the UK or anywhere else in the world, your order will be shipped from the University of Chicago Press' distribution centre, Chicago.

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