Mahtem Shiferraw

It's always tough to review poetry, since it is as much about connecting emotionally as it is about determining how well it's written. Though my experience is much different from the authors, I found many things that resonated. I particularly liked the poem "Wuchalle", which talked about a historical event I was unfamiliar with, yet which spoke to the universality of "hail the conquering hero" imperialism. From the poem: "the arrogance of being able to ignore any preexisting communities, which I am inclined to call 'indigenous' but, that too, is a language of ownership." "War". "Crossing Borders." The collection is well-named, as it gives many voices to the invisible immigrants, survivors, refugees. Well done. I will return to this book, as there is much to think about. (Part of why I took so long to review.) Thank you for the advance copy. It will live in our diversity library with like-minded friends.… (mer)

Absolutely stunning. In this collection, Mahtem Shiferraw grapples with identity, place, and history in an absolutely raw way, pulling imagery from her life and the lives of others to create an intense emotional landscape. There is incredible sadness and beauty in these poems as Shiferraw considers what has been left behind by the forces that have shaped her life and her home, and tries to find a place among all the unstoppable forces that have shaped her world. As Shiferraw puts it in one of the last poems of the collection: "I feel it running in my veins,
as if it was light.
How many shadows
have to exist within me
before I know which light to follow..."
… (mer)