In America they slaughtered a temple of Sikhs because they thought
them us. Here we all become towelheads, amorphous fears praying
to a brown god. Others that become others that look like others.
They don’t know our history, it’s locked doors & heavy whispers.”

This was a shocking, poignant poetry collection written by a young woman who is using current events (particularly 45’s ignorance), her childhood and family stories from the Partition in India/Pakistan to detail stark realities of what it’s like to have a country one day and be perceived as dirt or the enemy the next. It’s brevity lends to its strength and I highly recommend picking this up over the summer.

Visceral collection. Thank you netgalley for the ARC.
I will be looking up words and concepts and history and reading again. This will stay with me.

Too adult for my students but I’ll be buying a copy for myself.

If They Come for Us by Fatimah Asghar is a poetry book that caught my eye because of one line in the blurb, "Fatimah Asghar nakedly captures the experiences of being a young Pakistani Muslim woman in America" this line pulled me in. This book does a great job of doing just that. I'm a very open person and can't sand judgment so I enjoy poetry and stories that cover this topic.
Like most poetry books, I didn't love every single poem in this book, but I did enjoy most of them. There are poems in this book that cover real-life events. The poem, "For Peshawar" that reference to a terrorist attack on an Army Public School in Peshawar in 2014 were 141 were killed. This poem brought tears to my eyes. This wasn't the only poem that made me cry. The line "I want a land that doesn't want me." Made my heart shatter. The idea that there are people who so feel this way, makes me want to cry. These poems pull those feelings out and so many more into words and will make you feel something.
I also like how there are a few different formats like with the more 'Map Home' I never read a poem like that.
This beautiful poetry book is a joy, it's filled with truth, and powerful lines; it's a must-read.

in this poetry collection, Fatimah Asghar beautifully brings together stories of her own experiences as a Pakistani Muslim in America and the history of the partition, 9/11, and the current American administration

This collection of poems was haunting and it grabbed me in a way that I wasn't expecting. Infinitely relateable for me, "Boy" broke my heart into little pieces and I have yet to gather them up again. The words touch on both the experience of being a woman, being a boy-girl, being different and what it's like to be an immigrant growing up in America.

I cannot recommend If They Come For Us enough.

Wow. This book is so incredibly powerful. I wish I could sit down with the author and hear her stories, crying with her for the pain that Fatimah has lived through.

Some of my favorites:
"For Peshawar" - such a sad, beautiful tribute
"Partition" - eye-opening insight into the struggle of not belonging as an immigrant and minority searching for an identity
"Kal" - this is a neat play on the word kal and the tomorrow/yesterday
"When the Orders Came" - so sad
"100 Words on 45's 100 Days" - SPEAK TRUTH

Ugh. All of them are so good. I recommend this read to everyone who wants to learn more about the struggles of refugees, immigrants, and the Hindu and Muslim population after 9/11.