Pulling Faces

by Zakariye

Pulling Faces yanks you by the collar and talks like your favourite, wayward cousin. Fresh and vivid, these poems are equal turns cheeky and world weary, defiant and mournful. Speaking of and to the Somali community, Zakariye eschews the romanticised cliches of the diasporic experience. Instead, he embraces the ugly, the strange, the mundane and the magical in all its simultaneity. It is never quite clear what is truth and what is myth or where the line between love and fear is drawn, and this very ambiguity is this pamphlet's biggest strength. This is a gut-lead work that speaks just as loud in its omissions as its well chosen words.
‘Generosity, craft and bite. These words share a voice fully connected to what it notices and clearly burning with more to say. Wicked.’ Steven ‘Polarbear’ Camden

'This pamphlet is a stunning meditation on growing up, the continual and often fractious journey to becoming, on learning to grieve and to live. Zakariye writes family, brotherhood, friendship, community and coming of age with such style, energy, technique and precision. Cinematic, joyful, tender. It will make you smile. It will break your heart.' Cecilia Knapp

‘Zakariye has an amazing ability to capture the world around him in its fullness. He manages to find the hope in darkness, the cold perspective that accompanies joy and the reality hiding in every dream. He does this with skill and clarity, allowing you to really feel the emotion that sits behind the work in a beautiful way.’ Casey Bailey

Genres: Poetry

28 pages, Paperback

Published November 20, 2025

Reviews

[Niall Madden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met zakariye recently while at a book signing.

I really enjoyed his conversation with Ocean and while listening to him I decided to pick up a copy of his work.

While I know how someone acts has nothing to do with the quality of their work, he was genuine and polite and funny.

He left me a really nice message in my copy and made me want to start writing poetry again.

The work itself was fun, relatable and honest, the prose piece was especially strong and I read the whole collection thing back to back a few times.

Really glad I picked this up and if you're reading this I can't wait for your next collection!

[Simon Pitfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another star of the vibrant Birmingham poetry scene ascends from stage to page. In these fourteen poems Zakariye holds up fragments of the quotidian and examines them in the space created by the cadences and rhythms of his words, using voices and pauses to re-create moments and experiences we can all recognise, and infusing them with poignancy and significance, whether it's getting a ball back from a neighbour's garden or being seen in a thobe by someone who knows you in a different context. Heartfelt and thought-provoking, these poems announce the arrival of a powerful new voice, whose work is sure to endure.