Timeless and timely, there is verse and music in Diaspora Blues tuned by acute intelligence. Ali Jimale Ahmed's pithy and elegant lines span the range from the classical Arab jewels of an al-Ma'ari to the kind of ironies that grace the discursive English Restoration wit of Pope and Swift.' - Ammiel Alcalay. 'Somali poet Ali Jimale Ahmed recounts a lyrical odyssey, confronting the world's monsters, storms and temptations with the glittering safe harbour of his visionary poetic strength.' - Charles Cantalupo.'