HUM: Poems

by Sanam Sheriff

This debut poetry collection leans into the music of lyric and the liminality of our shared human experience to deliver poems that exercise no distance between world, voice, and page.

Genres: Poetry, Queer

84 pages, Paperback

Expected publication October 1, 2026

Reviews

[Victoria H]

HUM by Sanam Sheriff was a decent poetry book. I liked some of them, but some of them were a poetic style she created that she didn't explain how to read till the end of the book which confused me - perhaps it would have been better to explain what it was at the beginning of the book, instead?

The subject matter was quite interesting. I made note of some quotes from my favorite poems which I'll reread sometimes. I liked the recurring "emperor" character---I wasn't sure exactly who he was meant to be in the poems, but in some poems it felt like he might be God. My favorite poem was "The Emperor Pats His Lips With a Napkin", but I also liked "This country is motherless and makes me forget" and several others, as well.

One thing that really impressed me about Sheriff's poetic style was using different yet similar sounding words many times in a poem or even using the same word in different ways. I thought that had a really interesting effect---especially in my favorite poem The Emperor Pats His Lips With a Napkin. Sheriff also seems to have an innate sense of rhythm in her work which I enjoyed. Overall, I'm not sure that this poetry book in lifechanging, per se, but I'll remember it.

I was given this book for free as an e-ARC on NetGalley.

[Jade]

Rating: 3.75 / 5 Stars

"I didn't want to be touched. I wanted to be believed."

HUM is a poetry collection focused on body dysmorphia, gender-affirming care, faith, and memory. It follows the emotional and physical timeline of preparing for and recovering from top surgery, highlighting the tension between public perception and personal identity.
There are definitely strong moments here. The imagery surrounding surgery, fear, and bodily autonomy in pieces like "Three Months Pre-Op" and "Eight Weeks Pre-Op, Walking into the Women’s Bathroom off I-95" is raw and vulnerable. The blending of religious imagery with queer identity also gives certain poems a grounded, emotional center.

However, the collection relies heavily on structural experimentation that didn't land for me. Multiple poems are written in reversed, fractured, backwards syntax. Encountering this technique repeatedly pulled me right out of the flow of the book. Instead of enhancing the emotion, it felt jarring and unnecessary, making those pages a chore to read through.
While the central theme is deeply personal and impactful, the repetitive stylistic choices ultimately bogged down the reading experience

[Joyce]

Hum by Sanam Sheriff feels like an intimate invitation into what it means to be unapologetically human.

Every poem carries the weight of love, grief, longing, and becoming in a way that settles deep beneath your skin and lingers in the quiet between your bones.

Sheriff allowing readers into their trans experience feels undeniably sacred. The poems surrounding life before and after surgery are some of the most vulnerable, breathtaking pieces I’ve read in a long time. They made me want to get on my knees and thank them for making me feel so deeply that my soul remembered what it truly means to exist.

This collection is important. It is love. It is loss. It is grief. It is hope. It is humanity. Above all, it is an act of extraordinary courage in a world that too often teaches people to shrink themselves in the face of shame.

Hum reminds us that there is profound beauty in being fully, unapologetically yourself.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this devastating collection of poetry.

[Midge Barton]

"ode to the filth. that country beyond fear. her love / lashing me through and latching me here. here, / where the home in me laps up the home in her."

the poetry in this book push patterns, tradition, and offer moments of exploring the self. the writing is of the present, the cadence feels ancient, and the storytelling teeters in-between. reverse poetry, mixing English with Urdu, it all felt like an unexplored form of expressing the author's push and pull with belonging and wanting. Sheriff takes the word “hum” in Urdu (ہم), meaning both “we” and “I”, and applies the plurality of identity(ies) to the trans / queer and immigrant space, all while keeping hold of the Muslim-American experience. I feel that the writing is lyrical and very strong, the poems bolster each other and discusses humanness regardless all of our shades of shame, our desires, our ways of loving, our guilt, and our mourning

arc accessed via Edelweiss+

[Kuu]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Aourgh these poems were. Amazing. I LOVED the way in which the author uses the medium. So many poems that just made me go OH!!!! The one in which the poem is written from right to left... Aourgh.

I'm really not the best at reviewing poetry, but this collection really elicited reactions in me, and it made me want to talk to people about the FORM of it all, which is rare. The meaning of a poem, sure, but wanting to discuss the FORM? That's not something I want to do very often. And through all of this, the poems still feel accessible in the way that they do need some degree of decoding, but it doesn't feel like you need a literature degree to get anything out of the poems other than "words pretty". I love a poetry collection that is simple and straightforward without neglecting its nature as an art.

[Anastey]

I received this advance review copy for free. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was an amazing book of poetry, and easily in my top 10 for the year.

It's wonderfully lyrical, and dives deeply into gender, sexuality, and being trans. There is also a deep mix of love, sensuality, and grief all tied into their body and that of their partner's as well. You also have the feelings of where being trans intersects with family and religion too. It's always so complicated. There is also the journey into becoming yourself, and feelings about surgery and making physical changes to your body to match who you are on the inside.

It's so incredibly beautiful, and words will make you want to weep.

[Mary]

HUM is an exquisite collection of poetry about the art of being human. As humans...we are many things in one body. We are our ancestors, our race, our sexuality, our faith and our dreams and the desire and right be our true selves. This collection reminds us that, inside, we all know who we really are. Others may judge, or demand that we be who THEY expect us to be, but to live the wonderful life that we've been gifted we must be who we know we are. I highly recommend #HUM to any audience, especially those who wish to understand the transgender person they love, or are. Thank you #netgalley for allowing me to read and review #HUM.

[Carmen K]

This is a very good collection of poems. Using accessible language and imagery the poet conveys a range of emotion and experience.

The form of "Understudy Emperor's The" is an interesting way to get the reader to see the words in a new light. I don't often read poetry so it was the first time I saw the form. It gives a quite different feel to words than the hourglass ebb and flow of "I watch my country on a stream, I switch it off."

Poetry is very personal in my opinion. One thing I really like about this book is that the poems are different enough that when one would lose my attention another would reel me back into this collection of thought.

[spacedoll]

Thank you to the University of Nebraska Press/Backwaters Press and Sanam Sheriff for providing an e-ARC in exchange for honest review!

HUM was such a thought provoking poetry collection that explores the experiences of a trans, Indian Muslim immigrant to the United States and the way that these identities coalesce. I did have a difficult time with a few of the poems formatting-wise, but I didn’t dock for this as the author explains at the end why these choices were made and I found it to be quite unique! I felt particularly drawn to the poems about transness and gender identity as they felt incredibly intimate and relatable.

[K.C. Norton]

This is lovely. I'm not sure how accessible it will be for those who don't make a habit of reading poetry, but I found it beautiful, thoughtful, and moving. I feel like anything I could say about this would sound pretentious, which is the trouble with writing about poetry. I'll settle for saying that I liked it, I found the style haunting, and those mirror poems, which aren't quite mirror poems, slowed down my speed-reading brain and really made me sit with the word choice and imagery.

The volume is quite short, but many of the poems are as well. Always down to find a new trans poet. :)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

[clairecurrently]

ARC REVIEW

I am fairly new to reading poetry but I really enjoyed the themes throughout this collection. I also thought the poems written in unique format (what the author calls "Dore") were an interesting experience and really made me take my time with the words. I do wish the explanation of how to read these came at the front of the collection, rather than at the end.

[Alicia]

Thank you to NetGalley and backwater press for a copy of this to read. Sanam sheriff writes poetry so powerfully, moving, beautiful, yet heartbreaking. I’ll continue to follow this author. Check this out when it comes out October 1, 2026.