"A debut poetry collection showcasing both a fierce and tender new
voice."--Booklist
"Elegant and playful . . . The poet invents new forms and updates
classic ones."--Elle
"[Fatimah] Asghar interrogates divisions along lines of nationality,
age, and gender, illuminating the forces by which identity is fixed or
flexible."--The New Yorker
NAMED ONE OF THE TOP TEN BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK PUBLIC
LIBRARY - FINALIST FOR THE LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD
an aunt teaches me how to tell
an edible flower
from a poisonous one.
just in case, I hear her say, just in case.
From a co-creator of the Emmy-nominated web series Brown Girls comes
an imaginative, soulful debut poetry that collection captures the
experiences of being a young Pakistani Muslim woman in contemporary
America. Orphaned as a child, Fatimah Asghar grapples with coming of age
and navigating questions of sexuality and race without the guidance of a
mother or father. These poems at once bear anguish, joy, vulnerability,
and compassion, while also exploring the many facets of violence: how it
persists within us, how it is inherited across generations, and how it
manifests itself in our relationships. In experimental forms and
language both lyrical and raw, Asghar seamlessly braids together
marginalized people's histories with her own understanding of identity,
place, and belonging.
Praise for If They Come for Us
"In forms both traditional . . . and unorthodox . . . Asghar
interrogates divisions along lines of nationality, age, and gender,
illuminating the forces by which identity is fixed or flexible. Most
vivid and revelatory are pieces such as 'Boy, ' whose perspicacious
turns and irreverent idiom conjure the rich, jagged textures of a
childhood shadowed by loss."--The New Yorker
"[Asghar's] debut poetry collection cemented her status as one of the
city's greatest present-day poets. . . . A stunning work of art that
tackles place, race, sexuality and violence. These poems--both personal
and historical, both celebratory and aggrieved--are unquestionably
powerful in a way that would doubtless make both Gwendolyn Brooks and
Harriet Monroe proud."--Chicago Review of Books
"Taut lines, vivid language, and searing images range cover to cover. .
. . Inventive, sad, gripping, and beautiful."--Library Journal
(starred review)
