Make a map a poem Draw in pencil so glory can be erased on paper as space tucks atoms into a time capsule No one will remove its top We will be fuzzy in God’s memory a dream She had and can’t quite remember a wolf in a fairytale but which one
One of three chapbooks produced as a part of Deep Vellum’s Central Track Writers Project. This chapbook publication is brought to you by the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs through a Cultural Vitality Project grant.
Fatima-Ayan Malika Hirsi is the founder of Dark Moon Poetry & Arts, a monthly series spotlighting the creative feminine and non-binary POC energies of North Texas. She can often be found on sidewalks using her typewriter to birth poems for strangers or in classrooms unlocking the imaginations of children. She has been published in The Texas Observer, Entropy, The Boiler, Anthropology Now!, and elsewhere. Her work has been featured by WFAA, KERA, the Dallas Morning News, and others. Her first chapbook, Moon Woman, was published by Thoughtcrime Press in June 2018.
Fatima-Ayan Malika Hirsi is a Black mother who spends time with forests and waters on unceded lands of the T’Sou-ke Nation. Her work strives to instigate action in service to world-building, social change, and collaboration. Her poems live in Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora, MAYDAY, Torch, Rise Up Review, and other portals. She is a fellow of the Pink Door Writing Retreat, the Anaphora Arts Writing Residency, In Surreal Life, and the Abode Virtual Summer Retreat. She is the author of the chapbooks EVERYTHING GOOD IS DYING (Deep Vellum Publishing) and Moon Woman (Thoughtcrime Press). Her first full-length poetry collection, DREAMS FOR EARTH, is forthcoming from Deep Vellum in 2025. Travel with her online at fatimaayanmalikahirsi.com.