Muslim Writer’s Salon
Hey gang! I was a guest author for the Muslim Writer’s Salon last week! Long time, where the hell ya been? Wait, I’m the one that’s been missing. You probably want an apology. We don’t have that kinda relationship, relax.
Pray for Ease // Write & Breathe
Hey gang! I was a guest author for the Muslim Writer’s Salon last week! Long time, where the hell ya been? Wait, I’m the one that’s been missing. You probably want an apology. We don’t have that kinda relationship, relax.
White people are funny. Like yoga mats, like co-ops. You a barista but somehow got the money to spend a few months in Europe. Traveling. Living in a commune/it was a life changing experience/I want to recreate that here in
Gangland, Been a while. Hope you’re maintaining. Hope even more you’re thriving. I been aight. Rolling with the punches, keeping my head above water, and one other cliche I can’t think of right now. Hey, good news. I got a
Hey gang, Got some new stuff to share with y’all. First, I did a guest podcast for the Adapt Revolution, your weekly antidote to hate, greed, and ableism, where the D-Word is Disability: Second, I did a guest blog post
They invite you to awards ceremonies as if they wouldn’t lynch you in a NY minute. …
I wanted to check in with whoever might read this thing from time to time. I have some recent publications I wanted to share with you.
The first is SPIRITUAL STRUGGLE (You Won’t Understand) on the lovely Meow Meow Pow Pow blog.
The second piece is Kodak Black Man Reads Poetry over at the South Broadway Ghost Society. …
Everyone looks to me for the answers and right now I’m looking for answers. I keep thinking: “write a book that changes the world” and I keep asking myself why? I put all my eggs in one basket. Just because
I got a reading + Q&A coming up THIS Sunday, 3/27. 2PM central time, 12PM Pacific. Museum of African Diaspora has this African Book Club. Are You Borg Now? was chosen as the book of the month for March. …
Got a new essay out, in one of my favorite African lit mags, Brittle Paper. It’s called On Ableism & Writing Advice. It’s about how ableist most writing advice is. It’s also about Autism. …
To all the girls I blocked before Hear me now: This life is all or nothing Nothing makes waste of nothing Something is better than nothing Unless that nothing is more complete Than nothing… which is actually quite Remarkably similar
The true test of my faith, these days, is seeing myself as sincere & pious, even as I’m mired in sin. I’ve never had a good self-image. Always thought the worst of myself. I blame my upbringing, and my disposition,
Gangland, I’m one of the curators for this Environmental Justice Storytelling contest. Submit your work (writing, visual, audio, anything you can think of). Deadline April 1st! Must be Minnesota Resident over 18 (or go to a college/university in MN, regardless
Squadron, I’ll be a featured reader at the Museum of African Diaspora open mic this Thursday night on Zoom. 8pm Central Time, 6pm Pacific. Come thru, watch the show. It’s always a ton of brilliant writers sharing in the open
Hey gang, I’ve been in disbelief for the last few weeks, but ALHAMDULILLAH, Allah is great. Are You Borg Now? was recently named a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award in Memoir & Creative Nonfiction. This is a major win
Shrouded smoke Clouded hopes Don’t know Which way To go Same songs on repeat Social difficulties: Why y’all think me a monster? I’m just tryna live. Not my fault I was born this way. That my brain works so differently
I’m Somali, which means I can only talk about my addictions in the past tense. Relapse can’t be in my closed captions. But I’m an addict, no scratch that… I am human. I’m also autistic. Addiction runs in my veins.
I’m broker than Sean Price the brokest rapper alive. But he’s not alive. And neither are these words. Neither is Larry Levis. All the people that bring me inspiration no longer breathe. Perhaps why their words mean so much. Because it’s hard to say they wasted breath, when they have none left to take. …
So a few weeks ago I got invited to write an essay about my Autism journey for the Public Neurodiversity Support Center. It’s an online resource for Neurodivergent (ND) people (and their loved ones) to educate themselves. The topic of
Gangland, I wrote my first ever book review. This has been in the works for over a year. Much love to the team at Night Heron Barks for helping me shape it. Barking Bird is Gang. The book in question?
I’ll be doing a virtual reading of ‘Are You Borg Now’ at the San Francisco Public Library. Friday 1/22/22 @ 2pm PST. …
I am so fed up. I’m seeing red. I’ve been fighting for my economic life out here. Being a grad student is hell, man. Poverty. Stress. You know the rest. I’m about to graduate soon. That’s got me scared. As
As for the performances. Well, I should preface the first one by saying it was in promotion of an anthology that just came out. WE ARE MEANT TO RISE: Voices for Justice from Minneapolis to the World. I have an essay in there called DIDION DREAMS. …
Gang gang, I finally created a photo page. I be into film photography now. I’ll try to keep updating it, but tbh, it took me a week of having the tab open just to do this much. So, appreciate it
So if you know me you know that Hanif Abdurraqib is one of my favorite writers. I mean, he’s informed so much of my style and approach to writing. I walked around with THEY CAN’T KILL US UNTIL THEY KILL
Reading an excerpt from my book ARE YOU BORG NOW?
An Excerpt from my 3-part performance at the Somali Diaspora Conference 2021. I strive to encourage my people to always talk through their problems, to be more vulnerable, to do the hard work of healing themselves and each other… with
In 2003 this country was obsessed with Afghanistan. A patriotic fervor in the air which said: We must invade them and save them from the Taliban. I must have been 13. I am now 33. I hit refresh on my
I guess it’s like midnight:01 and I’m burping in my hotel room. I’m not drunk, you weirdo. Just sick. Which is a type of being drunk, if you think about it. Drunk from being healthy. But all metaphors and allusions
Gang! I’ll keep this brief. The book is out (yay!). You can grab that here: https://rlysrslit.bigcartel.com/product/are-you-borg-now-said-shaiye Sahan Journal did a really fantastic piece on the book + my story. You can read that here: https://sahanjournal.com/arts/said-shaiye-are-you-borg-now/ I had a book release
I know they ain’t think we’d make it far. Yet here we are. Life is like a cloudy day and sometimes with sun breaks. I mean, my life. The shame inside me roils up and tells me that I’m not
So it’s still hella weird to me when places choose to publish my work. I mean, I get it, my writing is decent on a good day, and sometimes other people see that, too. But publishing in general is a
BIG NEWS! We did an official cover reveal for my debut book, ARE YOU BORG NOW? We also have a pre-order link where you can secure your SIGNED COPIES before everyone else! Here is the link to get yours: Are
Hey Gang, I know I don’t really keep up with this thing regularly. Sowwy. I mostly focus my energy on writing and trying to get published. Also, survival takes a lot of energy. Good news: I have some new stuff
I feel so low that the ground may as well be a skyscraper. ///// I’m standing at it’s base, looking up at the groundscraper. //// At times like this, every word takes life-energy 2 produce & shoot up that groundscraper
//// I thought Black Thought had an obsession with Somali Bars unti I had a Black Thought that he was simply pronouncing sommelier like Somali-yay instead of sommelier. Then I Black Thought that I might be the one with a
Life don’t feel like life when all you’ve ever known is a deep lingering desire to not be alive. You don’t tell people about this. You just keep walking like Christopher. You deleted your facebook today. You don’t care, you’re
This poem inspired by Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle’s genre-defying book, SIR. Go get that, ASAP.
that way of raising boys becomes ritual without context – it becomes a sword, not a shield, and there is only so much protection a sword can bring. …
And when my young bulls ask me how to keep walking, I tell em yeah, keep your head up nigga
You don’t need to see the ground to know how to walk …
The maps that colonizers made to demarcate boundaries, both physical and intellectual, still serve to reinforce notions of superiority which were used to justify the dehumanization of Black people. But, this book looks at all sides of the equation. It’s not merely a tale of Black longing to belong, to a place they may no longer recognize, but still inherently know. …
Sorry I couldn’t respond to your email I was too busy wondering if I’ll get lynched You know, what with all these Nazis in the streets Red hatted demons screaming niggers oughta bleed . Sorry I didn’t see your text
We heard that Chargers quarterback Tyrod Taylor was a last-second scratch from last Sunday’s game against the Chiefs because he had complications from a painkilling injection he was taking due to injured ribs. Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Taylor’s lung was punctured when
99 Luftballons always reminds me of when my mom, my two younger brothers and I lived in a women & children’s shelter across the street from the Key Arena in Lower Queen Anne for a few months in 1997. …
I roll my windows down after iftar, sipping on a mango lassi, blasting UGK, bass rattling the stop light. The warm summer breeze wafts in through my sunroof. The sun has dipped. I’m savoring this one song, this one sin, as if it’s a cigarette. …
By the river
By the masjid
By the park
By the coffee shop
By the bridge
For the sunset …
I’ve never told this part of my story. You may know that I lived in Somalia for 3 years, but what I never mentioned is that I was on antidepressants for a good year out of those 3. After I
I guess I was kinda hoping that whats-her-name would read this post and know that it was her loss, not mine. How tragically teenage angsty. …
This morning I submitted something. It wasn’t anything new, just the first page of my memoir. It wasn’t for publishing, just for free critique from a publishing house. I can’t argue with that; it was a very low risk endeavor
In the night I watch television to help me fall asleep, or I watch television because I cannot sleep. …