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If They Come for Us
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Poetry (2018)Poet and co-creator of the Emmy-nominated web series "Brown Girls" captures the experience of being a Pakistani Muslim woman in contemporary America, while exploring identity, violence, and healing.
In this powerful and imaginative debut poetry collection, Fatimah Asghar nakedly captures the experiences of being a young Pakistani Muslim woman in America by braiding together personal and marginalized people's histories. After being orphaned as a young girl, Asghar grapples with coming-of-age as a woman without the guidance of a mother, questions of sexuality and race, and navigating a world that put a target on her back. Asghar's poems at once bear anguish, joy, vulnerability, and compassion, while exploring the many facets of violence: how it persists within us, how it is inherited across generations, and how it manifests in our relationships with friends and family, and in our own understanding of identity. Using experimental forms and a mix of lyrical and brash language, Asghar confronts her own understanding of identity and place and belonging.
In this powerful and imaginative debut poetry collection, Fatimah Asghar nakedly captures the experiences of being a young Pakistani Muslim woman in America by braiding together personal and marginalized people's histories. After being orphaned as a young girl, Asghar grapples with coming-of-age as a woman without the guidance of a mother, questions of sexuality and race, and navigating a world that put a target on her back. Asghar's poems at once bear anguish, joy, vulnerability, and compassion, while exploring the many facets of violence: how it persists within us, how it is inherited across generations, and how it manifests in our relationships with friends and family, and in our own understanding of identity. Using experimental forms and a mix of lyrical and brash language, Asghar confronts her own understanding of identity and place and belonging.
128 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 26, 2018
268 people are currently reading
27283 people want to read
About the author
Fatimah Asghar
15 books612 followersPoet, screenwriter, educator, and performer Fatimah Asghar is a Pakistani, Kashmiri, Muslim American writer. She is the author of the poetry collection If They Should Come for Us and the chapbook After. She is also the writer and co-creator of the Emmy-nominated Brown Girls, a web series that highlights friendships between women of color. Her work has been featured on news outlets such as PBS, NPR, Time, Teen Vogue, Huffington Post, and others.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,161 reviews
January 6, 2019
What an outstanding collection of poetry. Some wonderful play with form in many of the poems. Learned a lot about Partition. These poems cover so much—identity, loss, brown girlhood, the complicated bonds of family, what home is when home is torn apart. Much to admire here. Will be thinking about these poems for a long time to come.
December 5, 2020
cousins partitioned from cousins,
mothers partitioned from child,
neighbors spearing neighbors,
women, virgins, jumping into wells
so full with people they can’t
find water to drown.
This book is about so many things; the partition, Kashmir, 9/11, racism, identity, feminism, terrorism, immigration.
Fatima Asghar, a Pakistani-American poet here writes about her love and longing for Pakistan and Kashmir. The parents she lost, the culture she never got to own, the language that never became her native, the identity she searched for, the racism and judgement she was subjected to after 9/11 and how she feels for the children and women who died at wars, died in terror attacks, died in Kashmir.
I love how she writes about the 1947 partition of the subcontinent. We are told that the partition was necessarily, it saved us, gave us identity but not about the violence, the rapes, the murders and the hatred that is still buried in our roots. Asghar doesn't hold her pen while she writes poem after poem about how gruesome and horrific the partition actually was.
Also, her poems about Kashmir reflect how the world is indifferent to Kashmiris dying everyday as she wrote, "everyone wants Kashmir but no one wants Kashmiris"
And then there are poems about her identity crisis which I think evey Muslim immigrant will feel close to home.
mothers partitioned from child,
neighbors spearing neighbors,
women, virgins, jumping into wells
so full with people they can’t
find water to drown.
This book is about so many things; the partition, Kashmir, 9/11, racism, identity, feminism, terrorism, immigration.
Fatima Asghar, a Pakistani-American poet here writes about her love and longing for Pakistan and Kashmir. The parents she lost, the culture she never got to own, the language that never became her native, the identity she searched for, the racism and judgement she was subjected to after 9/11 and how she feels for the children and women who died at wars, died in terror attacks, died in Kashmir.
I love how she writes about the 1947 partition of the subcontinent. We are told that the partition was necessarily, it saved us, gave us identity but not about the violence, the rapes, the murders and the hatred that is still buried in our roots. Asghar doesn't hold her pen while she writes poem after poem about how gruesome and horrific the partition actually was.
Also, her poems about Kashmir reflect how the world is indifferent to Kashmiris dying everyday as she wrote, "everyone wants Kashmir but no one wants Kashmiris"
And then there are poems about her identity crisis which I think evey Muslim immigrant will feel close to home.
November 28, 2018
Beautiful. Poignant. Raw. Mesmerizing. If They Come For Us is a stunningly powerful and at times heart-rending collection of poetry. Some of the poems are about the Partition of India and Pakistan, others are about what it is like to be a Pakastani-American Muslim orphaned and growing up in the USA. The poems are touching and imaginative, reaching deep inside of you, stirring you to tears. I highly recommend it.
July 17, 2018
Poems about Partition and its lifelong effects on family and identity, growing up in America with brown skin, and more. Ashgar dedicates specific poems to Nikki Giovani, Danez Smith, and Safia Elhillo - I find her to be in good company with these poets. Highly recommended!
Until it comes out, you can see a bit of her approach and tone in a performance of Pluto Shits on the Universe.
The poet is the writer and co-creator of the web series Brown Girls, which I can also recommend.
Thanks to the publisher for providing access to this title that comes out August 7.
Until it comes out, you can see a bit of her approach and tone in a performance of Pluto Shits on the Universe.
The poet is the writer and co-creator of the web series Brown Girls, which I can also recommend.
Thanks to the publisher for providing access to this title that comes out August 7.
August 6, 2020
This is going to be a messy review because I feel too strongly about some of the themes from this book, and I cannot, for the life of me, collect my thoughts.
At least 14 million people were forced into migration as they fled the ethnic cleansings and retributive genocides that consumed South Asia during the India/Pakistan Partition, which led to India’s and East and West Pakistan’s independence from colonial Britain. An estimated 1 to 2 million people died during the months encompassing Partition. An estimated 75,000 to 100,000 women were abducted and raped. Partition remains one of the largest forced migrations in human history; its effects and divisions echo to this day.
To be South Asian is to be intimately acquainted with separation, partitions, and violence against your own kin. It is to grow up placing everyone you meet into ordered groups of 'us' and 'them'. And them? They are wrong, they are terrorists, they are bloody mongrels, they are extremists. And us? Why, of course we are righteous, we draw blood only for justice.
Entire generations are torn apart by divisions designed several decades ago.
During Partition, 75,000 to 100,000 women were abducted and raped. Many of these women were forced to marry, or chose to stay with their abductors because they knew they would not be accepted back into the communities from which they had been stolen.
Of the many available accounts of the founding of Rome, this is a part of the most popular: Just after the establishment of Rome as a city, Romulus found himself surrounded only by a handful of men, mostly friends and companions. He soon declared Rome an 'asylum' for the runaways, social outcasts and slaves. While this solved the predicament of conjuring men, Rome's population was still severely lacking women. Romulus then invited the neighboring Sabines and the Latins to enjoy a religious festival in the midst of which the invited women were abducted, forcefully made wives and raped.
It seems like history does go around in circles for women. When will our society stop viewing women as objects to be plundered, abducted, ordered around, raped and owned?
The India-Pakistan partition happened in 1947, tearing apart entire villages, separating families, because a British Imperialist who had never set foot in South Asia decided to draw a line on a map. Why have you left us to be the heirs of this bloody carnage? An event so ruthless and devastating, we are still paying the price for it 73 years later.
What’s blood
anyway, other than a river waiting to wake?
From my review you'd think this book is only about the partition. It's not. In this phenomenal collection of poems, Fatimah Asghar also talks about womanhood, the immigrant experience, racism, female sexuality, South-Asian culture, Pakistani culture, Islamophobia, Kashmir and more importantly, Kashmiris.
Everyone wants Kashmir but no one wants Kashmiris.
Aren’t I a miracle? A seed that survived the slaughter & slaughters
to come. I think I believe in freedom I just don’t know where it is.
I think I believe in home, I just don’t know where to look.
At least 14 million people were forced into migration as they fled the ethnic cleansings and retributive genocides that consumed South Asia during the India/Pakistan Partition, which led to India’s and East and West Pakistan’s independence from colonial Britain. An estimated 1 to 2 million people died during the months encompassing Partition. An estimated 75,000 to 100,000 women were abducted and raped. Partition remains one of the largest forced migrations in human history; its effects and divisions echo to this day.
To be South Asian is to be intimately acquainted with separation, partitions, and violence against your own kin. It is to grow up placing everyone you meet into ordered groups of 'us' and 'them'. And them? They are wrong, they are terrorists, they are bloody mongrels, they are extremists. And us? Why, of course we are righteous, we draw blood only for justice.
Entire generations are torn apart by divisions designed several decades ago.
During Partition, 75,000 to 100,000 women were abducted and raped. Many of these women were forced to marry, or chose to stay with their abductors because they knew they would not be accepted back into the communities from which they had been stolen.
Of the many available accounts of the founding of Rome, this is a part of the most popular: Just after the establishment of Rome as a city, Romulus found himself surrounded only by a handful of men, mostly friends and companions. He soon declared Rome an 'asylum' for the runaways, social outcasts and slaves. While this solved the predicament of conjuring men, Rome's population was still severely lacking women. Romulus then invited the neighboring Sabines and the Latins to enjoy a religious festival in the midst of which the invited women were abducted, forcefully made wives and raped.
It seems like history does go around in circles for women. When will our society stop viewing women as objects to be plundered, abducted, ordered around, raped and owned?
The India-Pakistan partition happened in 1947, tearing apart entire villages, separating families, because a British Imperialist who had never set foot in South Asia decided to draw a line on a map. Why have you left us to be the heirs of this bloody carnage? An event so ruthless and devastating, we are still paying the price for it 73 years later.
What’s blood
anyway, other than a river waiting to wake?
From my review you'd think this book is only about the partition. It's not. In this phenomenal collection of poems, Fatimah Asghar also talks about womanhood, the immigrant experience, racism, female sexuality, South-Asian culture, Pakistani culture, Islamophobia, Kashmir and more importantly, Kashmiris.
Everyone wants Kashmir but no one wants Kashmiris.
Aren’t I a miracle? A seed that survived the slaughter & slaughters
to come. I think I believe in freedom I just don’t know where it is.
I think I believe in home, I just don’t know where to look.
January 3, 2020
I’m surprised this book didn’t win all of the awards. It’s beautiful, urgent and powerful. Fatimah Asghar’s writing is stunning.
August 14, 2018
Content Warning: Genocide, Rape, Domestic Abuse
Well written, hard hitting, these poems put me through a roller coaster of emotions. The author explains how she has existed in a world pulled towards conflicting loyalties. Partition was the division of India into India and Pakistan, it caused at least 14 million to forcefully migrate to escape ethnic cleansings and retributive genocides. During this time 75,000 to 100,000 women were abducted and raped. The author explores the effects of Partition as well as how it has shaped her identity. She is from nations that America has villianized and her oppression is described in a multitude of ways. The topics of poems range from descriptions of the Partition to exploring her racism, gender norms, family and sexuality. Besides the serious topics some poems focused on funny ways that the author has assimilated.
"land that mispronounces my grief land that skins my other land that laughs when my people die & paints targets on my future children's faces land that steals and says mine."
The social commentary included descriptions of what America stands for and how it's hypocrisy infects our ability to exist. The author had poems in the form of crossword puzzles clues, grids of meaning and upside down paragraphs. The different formatting worked well and helped me to stay engaged. The author struggles to balance viewing her comfort in America as a betrayal to her past. . I emotionally connected with feelings of being pulled by multiple identities but never finding solace in one. I'm still thinking on the intimate ways the author comes to terms with her life and I will be reeling from reading it for a long time.
We know this from our nests-
the bad men wanting to end us. Every Year
we call them something new:
British. Sikhs. Hindus. Indians. Americans. Terrorists.
Recommended for Readers who
- enjoy poetry about identity and belonging
- can deal with reading about genocide and death
- want to reflect on how marginalized communities exist in America
February 20, 2019
One of my reading goals this year is to read more poetry. And wow, this was a stunning collection with which to kick off my goal.
The poems took various forms and experimented in ways that were new to me. I started to dogear favorites (don't @ me) but found I was doing so to every other one. There's a lot here: identity, race, religion, feminism, body image, and more I'm sure I'm not even aware of.
As someone very new to poetry, it's hard for me to comment on much more than how beautiful I found it. And that it will stick with me for a long time.
Thank you to Randomhouse and One World for my copy in exchange for an honest review.
The poems took various forms and experimented in ways that were new to me. I started to dogear favorites (don't @ me) but found I was doing so to every other one. There's a lot here: identity, race, religion, feminism, body image, and more I'm sure I'm not even aware of.
As someone very new to poetry, it's hard for me to comment on much more than how beautiful I found it. And that it will stick with me for a long time.
Thank you to Randomhouse and One World for my copy in exchange for an honest review.
March 7, 2024
"𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭, 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺."
this touched my heart, it was powerful and haunting, some wonderful poetry with poems that makes your heart cry, i learned so much i didn't know about partition, the poems in here covers so much I wanna scream at everyone to read it, it talks about growing up as an orphan in a strange country, it talks about being a pakistani muslim woman in america, fatimah's writing is so beautiful, it is such a different read from what i usually go to but i i loved it 💐
"𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘪 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩
𝘪 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴."
"𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘮 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬."
"𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘴, 𝘪 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 & 𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘴."
"𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘴𝘦𝘴, 𝘯𝘰 𝘬𝘢𝘧𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘯𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥."
"𝘪 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 & 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 & 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺."
"𝘐 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 “𝘐 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦” 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘦���𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘺𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘱’𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢."
"𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘳, 𝘸𝘦 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘵𝘩, 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴, 𝘴𝘶𝘯-𝘬𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥, 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 & 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨."
"𝘪 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴."
"𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘤𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 & 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦."
"𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴."
"𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮?"
"𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦’𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦, 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰"
this touched my heart, it was powerful and haunting, some wonderful poetry with poems that makes your heart cry, i learned so much i didn't know about partition, the poems in here covers so much I wanna scream at everyone to read it, it talks about growing up as an orphan in a strange country, it talks about being a pakistani muslim woman in america, fatimah's writing is so beautiful, it is such a different read from what i usually go to but i i loved it 💐
"𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘪 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩
𝘪 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴."
"𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘮 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬."
"𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘴, 𝘪 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 & 𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘴."
"𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘴𝘦𝘴, 𝘯𝘰 𝘬𝘢𝘧𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘯𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥."
"𝘪 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 & 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 & 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺."
"𝘐 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 “𝘐 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦” 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘦���𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘺𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘱’𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢."
"𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘳, 𝘸𝘦 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘵𝘩, 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴, 𝘴𝘶𝘯-𝘬𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥, 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 & 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨."
"𝘪 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴."
"𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘤𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 & 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦."
"𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴."
"𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮?"
"𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦’𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦, 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰"
June 4, 2024
I really enjoyed reading this collection.
May 20, 2021
This poetry collection describes the stories of migration during the India-Pakistan partition and the genocides, crimes and violence towards women and children that happened.
The writing is hard-hitting and straightforward.
It is packed with emotions ranging from anger to sadness to being utter brokenness.
The voice is genuine. It describes the cultural background pretty well. It's vibrant and exotic.
"I didn't know I needed to worry
about them
until they were gone."
The hatred, the discrimination towards certain sects of the society, the clash amongst the different religions are well described.
Well, I didn't like some parts which sound a bit fanatic focusing too much on a certain place and community.
Sometimes the writing comes out too strong for nothing. Use of strong words doesn't mean a strong voice. And yes, I didn't like some parts which are questionable (not comfortable with such expressions and they're are not related to the main themes discussed).
Warnings for most parts for sexual assault and use of words which you might come across as insulting and harassing.
And I really didn't like that "Microagression Bingo" list. I know the idea behind it but overgenerilazation of certain things is a bit too much.
I wish the writing and the themes presented were more diverse.
Overall, a strong voice and an impressive collection.
The writing is hard-hitting and straightforward.
It is packed with emotions ranging from anger to sadness to being utter brokenness.
The voice is genuine. It describes the cultural background pretty well. It's vibrant and exotic.
"I didn't know I needed to worry
about them
until they were gone."
The hatred, the discrimination towards certain sects of the society, the clash amongst the different religions are well described.
Well, I didn't like some parts which sound a bit fanatic focusing too much on a certain place and community.
Sometimes the writing comes out too strong for nothing. Use of strong words doesn't mean a strong voice. And yes, I didn't like some parts which are questionable (not comfortable with such expressions and they're are not related to the main themes discussed).
Warnings for most parts for sexual assault and use of words which you might come across as insulting and harassing.
And I really didn't like that "Microagression Bingo" list. I know the idea behind it but overgenerilazation of certain things is a bit too much.
I wish the writing and the themes presented were more diverse.
Overall, a strong voice and an impressive collection.
June 16, 2018
I received this via #netgalley in exchange for my review. This is a good, sparely-written poetry collection reflecting on a variety of topics related to the author’s identity: the India/Pakistan partition and its effect on her family, being orphaned, being Muslim in the US after 9/11, and femininity. Some poems are direct and sometimes shocking, while others wistfully mourn the people from India/Pakistan, her youth and her family connections.
July 5, 2019
Fatimah is a young Pakistani Muslim woman who grew in life without her parents guidance. Without her mother to guide her into womanhood as she explored her own sexuality and race. She was born into rules she had to adjust to but at the same time, kept parts of herself hidden. She writes so we can understand her story visually. So we can see the bloodstains, separation, and heartache. Nothing in life has come easy for her but as she develops, her understanding of war and America is clear. To be ripped from your culture and rushed into a new one is overwhelming and not secure.
“We’ve had our worth told to us since always: two goats & maybe a nose ring or bracelet. we’ve tried to re-learn worth outside our bodies. one day may our names come before our sex. one day may we be more than a body. may we forget the threats of our uncles selling us off to some man. some round by & house already brimming with wives. may our names come before you. come before butameez come before whore. may our silhouettes not be followed. not be the last fed & the first to wake one day may the men in our beds not be strange”.
“We’ve had our worth told to us since always: two goats & maybe a nose ring or bracelet. we’ve tried to re-learn worth outside our bodies. one day may our names come before our sex. one day may we be more than a body. may we forget the threats of our uncles selling us off to some man. some round by & house already brimming with wives. may our names come before you. come before butameez come before whore. may our silhouettes not be followed. not be the last fed & the first to wake one day may the men in our beds not be strange”.
April 18, 2019
I loved these poems. Powerful. Smart. Funny. An exploration of the past and current moment. Asghar is bold and confident in her exploration of self and identity. Referential and based in story telling. Really great!
October 26, 2023
It's highly unfair of me to attempt to review poetry, because poetry is not my domain. I do not read enough of it to be able to make a proper judgement call, and most of my response to poetry is a very superficial, surface-level interaction that doesn't seem to do the art form justice, given how passionately other people feel about it.
A short review will, thus, have to suffice. I liked most of the poems. I loved the book cover. I also loved the fact that important life-changing events like the APS terrorist attack on school children, a shocking and deeply traumatic moment in the life of Pakistanis everywhere, made an appearance here. It felt like being seen, a young artist talking about moments taken from my own life, moments that aren't far in the past but are part of my recent present.
From the moment our babies are born
are we meant to lower them into the ground?
To dress them in white? They send flowers
before guns, thorns plucked from stem.
Every year I manage to live on this earth
I collect more questions than answers.
Even when the distant past hit, the feeling of being relevant carried through. I loved how partition was threaded through the entire volume, just the way it is omnipresent in our lives today. One page of text, titled 'Partition', no line breaks and no paragraphs, was probably my favourite part of the whole collection.
you’re kashmiri until they burn your home. take your orchards. stake a different flag. until no one remembers the road that brings you back. you’re indian until they draw a border through punjab. until the british captains spit paki as they sip your chai, add so much foam you can’t taste home. you’re seraiki until your mouth fills with english. you’re pakistani until your classmates ask what that is. then you’re indian again. or some kind of spanish. you speak a language until you don’t. until you only recognize it between your auntie’s lips. your father was fluent in four languages. you’re illiterate in the tongues of your father. your grandfather wrote persian poetry on glasses. maybe. you can’t remember. you made it up. someone lied. you’re a daughter until they bury your mother. until you’re not invited to your father’s funeral. you’re a virgin until you get too drunk. you’re muslim until you’re not a virgin. you’re pakistani until they start throwing acid. you’re muslim until it’s too dangerous. you’re safe until you’re alone. you’re american until the towers fall. until there’s a border on your back.
Even though I could not relate to a significant portion of the issues that Fatimah explores, given that it talks of a very specific immigrant experience of having brown skin among white people, it still felt raw and powerful in the way only certain lived experiences can. Not only the racism, but the poems on sexuality, or on loss of homelands, on losing languages and cultures, on history and memory and all the things that tie in to the experience of leaving one piece of land behind to move to another, they all feature in one way or another.
I whisper my country my country my country
& my hands stay empty.
what is land but land? a camp
but a camp? sanctuary
but another grave? I am an architect.
I permission everything
into something new.
I build & build
& someone takes it away.
Of course, there were some parts where I got bored and wanted it to end, but that was inevitable. As always, whatever I say about any poetry collection should be taken with a grain of salt. If some things are subjective, there is no greater proof of it than in my response to this act of story telling, which clearly moves some to tears while evoking in me no more than an appreciation of the odd sentence or paragraph here and there.
It was good. You should read it. That's all I can say.
***
I review Pakistani Fiction, and talk about Pakistani fiction, and want to talk to people who like to talk about fiction (Pakistani and otherwise, take your pick.) To read more reviews or just contact me so you can talk about books, check out my Blog or follow me on Twitter!
A short review will, thus, have to suffice. I liked most of the poems. I loved the book cover. I also loved the fact that important life-changing events like the APS terrorist attack on school children, a shocking and deeply traumatic moment in the life of Pakistanis everywhere, made an appearance here. It felt like being seen, a young artist talking about moments taken from my own life, moments that aren't far in the past but are part of my recent present.
From the moment our babies are born
are we meant to lower them into the ground?
To dress them in white? They send flowers
before guns, thorns plucked from stem.
Every year I manage to live on this earth
I collect more questions than answers.
Even when the distant past hit, the feeling of being relevant carried through. I loved how partition was threaded through the entire volume, just the way it is omnipresent in our lives today. One page of text, titled 'Partition', no line breaks and no paragraphs, was probably my favourite part of the whole collection.
you’re kashmiri until they burn your home. take your orchards. stake a different flag. until no one remembers the road that brings you back. you’re indian until they draw a border through punjab. until the british captains spit paki as they sip your chai, add so much foam you can’t taste home. you’re seraiki until your mouth fills with english. you’re pakistani until your classmates ask what that is. then you’re indian again. or some kind of spanish. you speak a language until you don’t. until you only recognize it between your auntie’s lips. your father was fluent in four languages. you’re illiterate in the tongues of your father. your grandfather wrote persian poetry on glasses. maybe. you can’t remember. you made it up. someone lied. you’re a daughter until they bury your mother. until you’re not invited to your father’s funeral. you’re a virgin until you get too drunk. you’re muslim until you’re not a virgin. you’re pakistani until they start throwing acid. you’re muslim until it’s too dangerous. you’re safe until you’re alone. you’re american until the towers fall. until there’s a border on your back.
Even though I could not relate to a significant portion of the issues that Fatimah explores, given that it talks of a very specific immigrant experience of having brown skin among white people, it still felt raw and powerful in the way only certain lived experiences can. Not only the racism, but the poems on sexuality, or on loss of homelands, on losing languages and cultures, on history and memory and all the things that tie in to the experience of leaving one piece of land behind to move to another, they all feature in one way or another.
I whisper my country my country my country
& my hands stay empty.
what is land but land? a camp
but a camp? sanctuary
but another grave? I am an architect.
I permission everything
into something new.
I build & build
& someone takes it away.
Of course, there were some parts where I got bored and wanted it to end, but that was inevitable. As always, whatever I say about any poetry collection should be taken with a grain of salt. If some things are subjective, there is no greater proof of it than in my response to this act of story telling, which clearly moves some to tears while evoking in me no more than an appreciation of the odd sentence or paragraph here and there.
It was good. You should read it. That's all I can say.
***
I review Pakistani Fiction, and talk about Pakistani fiction, and want to talk to people who like to talk about fiction (Pakistani and otherwise, take your pick.) To read more reviews or just contact me so you can talk about books, check out my Blog or follow me on Twitter!
May 31, 2019
.... neighbors spearing neighbors,
women, virgins, jumping into wells
so full with people they can't
find water to drown.
Poetry is not my jam, usually, but I picked this up as part of the month long May #AsianReadathon.
This poetry collection is an exploration of both the trauma that is the India/Pakistan partition, and being an orphaned Pakistani-American queer Muslim growing up in the United States. Some of these resonated better than others, and I really appreciated the themes explored. The writing is raw and often compelling, and I will read more of her work.
women, virgins, jumping into wells
so full with people they can't
find water to drown.
Poetry is not my jam, usually, but I picked this up as part of the month long May #AsianReadathon.
This poetry collection is an exploration of both the trauma that is the India/Pakistan partition, and being an orphaned Pakistani-American queer Muslim growing up in the United States. Some of these resonated better than others, and I really appreciated the themes explored. The writing is raw and often compelling, and I will read more of her work.
September 17, 2022
This is raw, brutally honest, and makes you uncomfortable. As it should.
August 20, 2018
“From the moment our babies are born are we meant to lower them into the ground? To dress them in white? They send flowers before guns, thorns plucked from stem. Every year I manage to live on this earth I collect more questions than answers.”
October 28, 2020
I think I believe in freedom I just don't know where it is.
I think I believe in home, I just don't know where to look.
Deeply disturbing yet incandescent. One of the reasons why Goodreads remains vital for me personally. Despite the bugs, the trolls and the ads.
I think I believe in home, I just don't know where to look.
Deeply disturbing yet incandescent. One of the reasons why Goodreads remains vital for me personally. Despite the bugs, the trolls and the ads.
Read
October 14, 2018RWLChallenge: A poetry collection written or edited by an LGBTQIA person of colour.
Full review forthcoming via Rebel Women Lit
Full review forthcoming via Rebel Women Lit
October 4, 2020
Älskade denna poesisamling som både lär mig mer om delningen mellan Indien och Pakistan samt ger mig insyn i hur det är att vara muslim i USA efter det att tornen föll 11 sep. En poesisamling för alla att läsa, oavsett om du är van eller ovan lyrikläsare för den är mycket tillgängligt skriven och inga förkunskaper krävs.
January 30, 2023
"Every year I manage to live on this earth, I collect more questions than answers."
🥀🌹
Powerful and haunting, If They Come for Us, Fatimah Asghar's first full-length collection, redefines poetry via the use of free verse and experimental form as she explores what it means to be an orphan, an immigrant, and ultimately, human.
Asghar is known for defying conventions in writing with intelligence and wit.
Asghar, who was orphaned as a young child, struggles with coming of age and navigating queries of sexuality and race without the tender guidance of a mother or father.
These poems express sorrow, joy, vulnerability, and compassion while also delving into the various facets of violence: how it dwells within us, how it is passed down through generations, and how it emerges in our relationships.
Asghar weaves marginalized people's experiences with her own perspective of identity, locality, and belonging in language that is lyrical, raw, and at times playful.
If They Come for us gives readers glimpses into a world we may not be familiar with that are melodically beautiful yet painfully true, and challenges us to consider our place in it, whether from a place of understanding, empathy, or acknowledging our own role in maintaining power structures that are rooted in racism, xenophobia, and nationalism. Despite how significant those insights and experiences are, after reading these complex and essential poems, I feel optimistic.
Asghar's novel embodies a variety of emotions, including defiance, subversion, grief, and rage, but it is also filled with resilience, friendship, family (found and blood), and love. Asghar's poetry demonstrates that there is hope despite the hardship and sorrow in this world, if we only have the courage to seek it out.
🥀🌹
Powerful and haunting, If They Come for Us, Fatimah Asghar's first full-length collection, redefines poetry via the use of free verse and experimental form as she explores what it means to be an orphan, an immigrant, and ultimately, human.
Asghar is known for defying conventions in writing with intelligence and wit.
Asghar, who was orphaned as a young child, struggles with coming of age and navigating queries of sexuality and race without the tender guidance of a mother or father.
These poems express sorrow, joy, vulnerability, and compassion while also delving into the various facets of violence: how it dwells within us, how it is passed down through generations, and how it emerges in our relationships.
Asghar weaves marginalized people's experiences with her own perspective of identity, locality, and belonging in language that is lyrical, raw, and at times playful.
If They Come for us gives readers glimpses into a world we may not be familiar with that are melodically beautiful yet painfully true, and challenges us to consider our place in it, whether from a place of understanding, empathy, or acknowledging our own role in maintaining power structures that are rooted in racism, xenophobia, and nationalism. Despite how significant those insights and experiences are, after reading these complex and essential poems, I feel optimistic.
Asghar's novel embodies a variety of emotions, including defiance, subversion, grief, and rage, but it is also filled with resilience, friendship, family (found and blood), and love. Asghar's poetry demonstrates that there is hope despite the hardship and sorrow in this world, if we only have the courage to seek it out.
March 7, 2023
EDIT: reread 29/01/23 for uni
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A beautiful collection of poetry revolving around a concept ever-familiar to me. A few of the poems were rather too on the nose with respect to the themes explored, but all in all they made me realize how much I'm missing out on by not reading poetry often.
-------
A beautiful collection of poetry revolving around a concept ever-familiar to me. A few of the poems were rather too on the nose with respect to the themes explored, but all in all they made me realize how much I'm missing out on by not reading poetry often.
January 31, 2019
This is a short collection of poetry about a young woman’s experience growing up as a Muslim and the challenges she faced growing up in America.
May 22, 2021
3.5 stars
December 28, 2021
I’m not one for poetry, so I didn’t even know about this post Fatimah and just discovered the book while randomly browsing. But I was totally blown away by how much I loved it. Fatimah touches on many themes like loss of parents and home and culture, dysphoria, patriarchy, 9/11 and the aftermath of that as experienced by an American Muslim and many more, and each and every poem was very moving and hard hitting. But the ones that immediately touched my heart were the ones about the India-Pakistan partition : about the absolute devastation of what happened, the generational trauma it caused, and that hatred it gave birth to which lives on until today. Me and the author might be on the opposite sides of the partition line but the feelings and sentiments described in these poems felt very personal and I’m sure anyone from the two countries would feel the same. I’m deeply impressed by this collection and I definitely hope anyone who wants to checkout more South Asian works picks this up.
December 17, 2018
Powerful poetry book filled with poems about growing up in America as an immigrant. I loved this book. The poems spoke to me. I connected with most of them, as I grew up as an immigrant daughter, but in Canada. I feel these type of poetry books are important and should be read. Bravo. I recommend
October 17, 2018
What a masterpiece.
December 22, 2022
“I am an architect. I permission everything into something new. I build & build & someone takes it away“
May 18, 2018
Fatimah Asghar's If They Come for Us is a raw, emotional, richly constructed poetic composition. Fatimah's moving and poignant poems bust open the hurt and scars left from the Partition of India. Fatimah offers her insight and experience of her ancestor's history, her lack of parental support/guidance, and questions of sexuality. Though at times uncomfortable, the reader connects to Fatimah's heart wrenching experiences of growing up with the scars of racial insensitivity, struggle and finding one's place (and voice) in today's world.
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