Poet Aisha Sharif (pictured left) gave a reading at the Doty Tower Room on Monday Oct. 22. Sharif read selections from her latest collection, To Keep From Undressing. Among other themes, Sharif read poems that touched upon religion, race and gender (Courtesy of Professor Lytton Smith).
Another amazing poet visited the Geneseo campus on Monday Oct. 21 to share her message of intersectionality and understanding. The second literary forum reading of the semester occurred in the Doty Tower Room and featured talented poet Aisha Sharif.
Associate professor of English and creative writing Lytton Smith introduced Sharif, praising her recently released poetry collection entitled To Keep From Undressing. Smith expressed how Sharif questions her experiences and forces readers to question society.
“Her poetry, I think, really takes contemporary moments and asks us to think about them,” Smith said. “She’s not [saying] ‘this is how it is or should be,’ but she definitely wants us to enjoy poetry but also think about the world in which we’re living and how we’re reacting to it.”
Smith also addressed how intersectionality plays a large role in Sharif’s poems.
“I think it’s really important that she’s thinking about intersectionality. She’s thinking about what it means to be an African-American Muslim woman,” Smith said. “While she’s not the only person writing from that perspective, she’s bringing her experience of it.”
Sharif explained how her religion and race are large themes throughout her writings.
“Some of the poems in the book are inspired by religious verses [from the Quran],” Sharif said. “If it was a beautiful image that was presented or some deep questions about faith, I would use that verse to write a poem in response to that verse and see how that particular verse applied to my life.”
English creative writing major senior Troy Seefried emphasized the significance of Sharif being published for all minorities.
“I thought that she had really good insight on her very unique culture. Being a minority myself, you don’t get a lot of representation,” Seefried said. “So, to have a published work like that with so many great poems it’s really cool to see.”
In addition to representation and important themes of intersectionality, Sharif presented herself differently from other poets which stood out to English creative writing major junior Natalie Hayes.
“She carries herself very much with a sense of humor and a self-awareness that I think is really quite refreshing,” Hayes said.
Sharif read several poems from her new collection. One poem she read was “After School on the City Bus, Memphis, TN” which was about a moment of Islamophobia she experienced after transferring to public school from a private school for Muslim students.
The poem stood out to many audience members because of Sharif’s decision to sing part of the poem. Hayes felt that the singing helped define the poem’s meaning.
“The singing felt really integral to the poem which was performing,” Hayes said. “It definitely changed the meaning of that poem a lot for me.”
Although many of her poems are written based on personal experiences such as “Kickball at Sister Clara Muhammad School” which is reminiscent of its title, Sharif’s poetry is still relatable for students.
Seefried said poetry allows room for interpretation.
“Well, I’m not a poet guy, but I think poetry is very easy to connect to because unlike fiction, there are many different interpretations you can take from a poem,” Seefried said.
Hayes also highlighted how the identity of the poet and the listener can connect and give readers better interactions with the poem.
“I think—especially with these poems but others in general—the easiest way to think about [poetry] is to think about your identity versus theirs and how they might have a relationship with one another,” Hayes said.
Smith stressed the importance of Sharif and future writers reading the community because it allows students to engage with the literary world.
“When you meet the writers and see what they’re struggling with, thinking through things and loving engaging with questions like Aisha does and talking and conversing,” Smith said. “It brings the work alive and it makes the work available for us to engage with it, ask questions of it, enjoy it and make use of it.”