– if no one has ever told you, your freedom is more important than their anger I really liked the following poem, which I’ve seen shared on social media before: She also makes a point of encouraging young/new writers and other women writers of color. She has a strong emotional connection to the topics she’s discussing, and it shows. Run my heart across my teeth, repeatedly.Īt moments, her talent for imagery and rhythm shine, and her voice really shows. To be fair, I read it on Kindle, which is not the best way to digest poetry like this, so it may have been an easier reading on my eyes if I read the paperback. The choppy lines hindered my reading of the poem, and at some points it was too straight-forward, and at other times, it felt like it was too purple, that I didn’t really know what she was trying to say. She has some very quotable short poems but in general I found the collection to be a bit awkward to read through. Waheed tackles some important and tough subjects like the African diaspora, motherhood, the ways in which feminism can benefit men, and sexual assault. Translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith and Emily Yae Won.My review of Salt by Nayyirah Waheed: Rating: 2.5 stars: “It was okay” Translated from the Bengali by Arunava Sinha Translated from the Korean by Chi-Young Kim The World and All That It Holds by Aleksandar Hemon “salt” is the kind of collection of poems that will rip your heart out, toss it a little, turn it a bit, throw it far away, make you realize what you have lost, make you fetch it, repair it and let it heal. I don’t even know if I would be doing the book any justice at all by talking about it. I don’t know what more to say about this magnificent collection of poems. Each poem comes with a word at the bottom – the poem defines the word – gives it meaning and that is the format of this collection. “salt” is a collection of poems by Waheed on the condition of being black, feeling alienated, how the heart is empty and bereft, how does one heal after all, and of various other matters of the heart and soul. I don’t know why it felt the way it did, but I honestly believe that if any work of art can drive you to this point or to tears (which also happened by the way) then it is an indication that you wake up, smell the coffee and do something about what is going on – in your life and also to perhaps make a better change in someone else’s life as well. I am this close to perhaps even doing that. It made me want to drop everything, leave everything behind and go and find myself. Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever felt so compelled by art? Nayyirah Waheed’s poetry did that to me. It jolts you out of the mundane existence and makes you question everything and everyone around you. Once in a while you read something that shakes your core.

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

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