If They Come for Us paints a heart-wrenching story of what it is
like to be “othered.” Right off the bat, these poems really resonated with me.
Lines such as:
I build safety inside
you & wake in cuffs.
I build & build
& someone takes it away.
he drops bombs
flattening children to prove he can.
I recognized these lines were about Trump and the Muslim ban
and this time that we’re living in that is so horrifying and unsafe. It just
put me right back into the moment when I was watching the news in my room when
the Muslim ban first happened, and families were being separated and all I
could do was cry. I did not understand how this man was elected, I did not
understand how any of this was okay, and this was not even affecting me; but I
was hurt. I could only imagine how those families were feeling first hand.
The imagery throughout the poems is haunting. I could not
shake the visuals of certain lines such as:
1947: a man sees a
girl
crying as she begs for
water
he stares for a while
& then
lights her on fire.
and
bodies spoon like
commas, waiting.
I was also captivated by the way the poet wrote. She did not
end sentences where she ended a stanza, but rather continued the sentence into
the next stanza. She even played with different writing forms like the treatment
plan as if her poetry were a movie or the floor plan (my personal favorite). I
also found it interesting that she ends with who the book is for instead of
placing this dedication in the beginning.
All in all, the words of Fatima were unique, raw, and
beautiful. All so eloquently written, the words stick with you long after you
have finished reading.
Angelique,
ReplyDeleteI also felt the importance of a piece of art talking about the now. Art has that transformative power, and an aspect of that is speaking about the oppression that keeps members of the oppressed, down. I also agree that Fatimah did such an amazing job of colorfully representing 'the other'. There was a reclaiming of her 'otherness' I also found here, on an individual level but also on a macro level for herself.
"All in all, the words of Fatima were unique, raw, and beautiful. All so eloquently written, the words stick with you long after you have finished reading."
ReplyDeleteI felt the same way. It was almost a haunting feeling I felt afterword. Haunting in the sense of reading a person's experience of violence, trauma and loss of family. In a way I felt stripped down, like "where do I go from here? Where do I go or feel after reading about this person's experience?" But I also feel like that is precisely why I read, to understand someone's story, to learn from them, to feel for them rather than being blind to our violent world where we feel like their are no solutions.
Haunting is a good word—kind of like how we’re haunted everyday by the separated families at the border. Your response to this and honoring the connection make this book transcendent
ReplyDeleteE
I like your use of "haunting" as well. The pieces linger in your mind long after your eyes leave the page. Asghar did a great job at painting pictures and giving insight to what her people experienced. Prior to this book I had no knowledge of what happened in India during this time. As she gives her testimonial she sheds light on history.
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