"These poems glide between scenes of quiet intimacy and smiling friendship. They get to the heart of difficult matter the way good poets do--by admitting awe and honesty. Washes, Prays is an inventive, genre-defying hybrid that offers a deeply necessary portrait of a Muslim woman. It dissolves stereotypes . . . making room for female desire, friendship, and the consolations of faith." --Quill & Quire

"[E]xhilarating, mile-a-minute prose poems that are fresh, provocative, and often funny. These visceral pieces take surprising hairpin turns, pulling the reader through proclamations, inquiries, and bursts of self-doubt. Noor Naga achieves all this with a language that is rich and sensory, and a visually rigid structure that counter-intuitively unfolds to allow a multiplicity of pacing and play." --RBC Bronwen Wallace Award Jury Citation

"Naga has the ability to capture a universe within a few lines: 'rain like glass needles so sharp I hear them slice the air clatter excitedly off the hoods of cars / nouf turns her face to the sky like a happy pincushion.' . . . Washes, Prays tells old stories in new language." --The Walrus

"[A] lyrical novel that opens with a fierce ontology of its self-contained world of poetics--an introduction fit for an ancient Arabic love poem. Naga beautifully navigates ancient culture with a startlingly fresh contemporary lens. Her poetry pays homage to tradition but is not afraid to criticize it as well. . . [A] brilliant debut, containing one breathtaking poem after another." --Arc Poetry Magazine