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Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Source: Public Library
Hardcover, 320 pgs.
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Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto, was my work’s book club pick for March, is a coming of age story that takes a long trip off the rails of normal living. Meddelin Chan is an Indo-Chinese-American whose mother and aunties who can be a little stifling and over-bearing. This leaves her little room to be herself until she gets to live on a college campus and she meets the man of her dreams, Nathan.

SPOILER ALERT: Okay, Nathan would be the man of anyone’s dreams because honestly, he loves her no matter who she’s killed or what kind of trouble she gets into. That’s amazing to me. END SPOILER

When she returns from school after making a monumental life decision with little thought other than about a family curse and her familial obligations, the wedding business gets into full swing with her mother as a florist, her aunts as entertainment, makeup, and baker, and herself as the photographer. They are successful at this line of work, but Meddy is still not dating (ignore that 3 yr. relationship in college that her family knew nothing about).

This is where things go awry for Meddy. Her blind date is a horror show and the rest of the book from here is so over-the-top and ridiculous, it makes you want to cry with laughter. It’s definitely a comedy and not a serious murder mystery.

“I’m stuck in a nightmare. I know it. Maybe I got a concussion from the accident. Maybe I’m actually in a coma, and my coma-brain is coming up with this weird-ass scenario, because there is no way I’m actually sitting here, in the kitchen, watching my oldest aunties eat a mango and Ma and Fourth Aunt argue while Jake lies cooling in the trunk of my car.” (pg. 62)

The narrative style makes this relatable because Meddy is doing the talking and giving us all the ins-and-outs along the way, and the plot is just hilarious misstep after hilarious misstep. What bothered me and kept me from giving it a Quatrain rating was that it went a little too far with the over-the-top plotting. It was no longer believable to me in how the murder was resolved and wrapped up. Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto is a fun ride, and there happens to be a sequel. It’s definitely a book that will lighten your spirits even if there is a death involved.

RATING: Tercet and a half.

About the Author:

Jesse Q Sutanto grew up shuttling back and forth between Jakarta and Singapore and sees both cities as her homes. She has a Masters degree from Oxford University, though she has yet to figure out a way of saying that without sounding obnoxious. She is currently living back in Jakarta on the same street as her parents and about seven hundred meddlesome aunties. When she’s not tearing out her hair over her latest WIP, she spends her time baking and playing FPS games. Oh, and also being a mom to her two kids.

Twice in a Lifetime by Melissa Baron (audio)

Source: Borrowed
Hoopla, 9+ hrs.
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Twice in a Lifetime by Melissa Baron, narrated by Megan Tusing, is a time-travel romance and my 3rd book for the 12 books 12 friends reading challenge.

***Those who have severe anxiety, a recent death in the family, or have suicidal thoughts should be warned about reading this book.***

Isla Abbott has severe anxiety and lost her mother, causing her to leave Chicago for just outside St. Louis. As a graphic designer, she starts again and works mostly remote, but soon she starts getting texts from a different timeline. Ewan Park enters her life in the most unusual way, but there is an undeniable connect, even as she remains awkward and anxiety-ridden.

Isla is tough to handle at times as a reader because you hear her inner thoughts, but that’s what’s so beautiful about Baron’s characterization. She understands anxiety and the incessant voice that puts you down, and she understands the overwhelming pressure that anxiety can be.

Ewan and Isla’s relationship is unconventional given the circumstances, but oh so lovely when they connect. Baron’s novel is tragic and emotional, a roller coaster. Twice in a Lifetime by Melissa Baron is a tough book to review, but definitely one that touches on fate and love and will be hard to forget.

RATING: Quatrain

About the Author:

Melissa Baron is a copywriter and technical writer from Chicago. She holds a B.A. in English and is a Denver Publishing Institute graduate. She regularly contributes to Book Riot and works as a book staffer at the annual Heartland Fall Forum. In her spare time, she likes to travel with her fiancé and play with their two cats, Denali and Mango. Twice in a Lifetime is her first novel.

 

Spare by Prince Harry (audio)

Source: Purchased
Audible, 15+ hrs.
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Spare by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, who narrates his own memoir, is one man’s struggle with his role in life (one he was born into), the death of his mother (which he avoided grieving for far too many years), and who loves his wife and his family (all of his family). How do you deal with the death of a mother, particularly in such a sensational and horrific way that Princess Diana died? How do you navigate a privileged life as a spare who isn’t exactly expected to carry the royal name into the future? How do you protect your family from a press that is allowed to run free and do as it pleases and is often fueled by petty family jealousies and informants?

No matter what you think about the royal family or how the press works, etc., it is clear that the horrific death of Princess Diana profoundly shaped Prince Harry and how he viewed the British press from the start. He was a young boy when he lost his mother, and reading about how the family reacted and did little to help him adjust and mourn is heartbreaking. The love his mother had for him and his brother also nurtured his love of family and the belief in family loyalty and protection, much to his detriment. He assumed many things about his own family and its priorities. There are many instances where he gives them the benefit of the doubt in how they treated him and his wife, but that benefit of the doubt was clearly misplaced time and time again.

The drawbacks for me were the unexamined privilege he has and didn’t acknowledge, and what seemed to me a glossing over of how the British press and its close relationship with the Royals helped him. Overall, Prince Harry was clearly adrift and in need of direction, which he found in the military despite the obstacles (including the Royal family and his brother). Does he have more self-examination to do? Yes, but don’t we all.

Spare by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, is a page-turner, and definitely an emotional read. It’s a sad look at a young man without enough support from his family. Family here is focused on preserving the monarchy and little else. The relationship between the brothers was not that solid to start with and it is clear that becoming the heir further fractured the relationship between Harry and his brother. If anything, right or wrong, this is a memoir of a broken family and a man who will protect his wife and children first.

RATING: Quatrain

About the Author:

Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex is a husband, father, humanitarian, military veteran, mental wellness advocate, environmentalist, and bestselling author. He resides in Santa Barbara, California, with his family and three dogs. His memoir, Spare, was published on January 10, 2023.

Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafo (audio)

Source: Public Library
Audiobook: 4+ hrs.
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Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor, narrated by Adjoa Andoh and my 2nd book for the 12 books 12 friends reading challenge, opens with Sankofa walking through a Ghanaian village of ghosts, where people hide when she walks the streets. This opening immediately makes this story curious. Why are the villagers hiding from her? Is she dangerous?

Soon she pays a visit to a home, and announces, “Death has come to visit.”

Sankofa has a life before this in which she was known as Fatima. Even at age five she held the dust from a meteor shower without feeling its heat, and when she found a seed in a box, her imagination is all her parents and brother see. Of course, there are government officials who know better.

This story is both futuristic and in the present at the same time, steeped in traditions of Ghana. Planes and drones, unknown seeds, and abilities to manipulate light, time, and space. Adjoa Andoh is an engaging narrator and had me hooked on this story from the beginning, though I suspect that has a lot to do with the Okorafor’s material.

Fatima is transformed and when the light comes, she’s unable to control it and villages and individuals will be lifeless. She also cannot use technology without rendering it useless. Her journey is now as the angel of death, and she’s nomadic for much of the story as she searches for the seed that is stolen from her. Alone, she embarks on a journey of discovery. Is she empathy and compassion or is she evil like the villagers believe?

Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor is captivating from the first page, and it is clear that there is a juxtaposition between cultural superstition and the old ways and the advancement of technology. But at its heart the story is about a young, orphaned girl looking for her place in the world, one that fears her.

RATING: Cinquain

About the Author:

Nnedimma Nkemdili “Nnedi” Okorafor is a Nigerian-American writer of science fiction and fantasy for both children and adults. She is best known for her Binti Series and her novels Who Fears Death, Zahrah the Windseeker, Akata Witch, Akata Warrior, Lagoon and Remote Control. She has also written for comics and film.

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (audio)

Source: Borrowed
Audiobook, 10+ hrs.
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Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, narrated by Kim Staunton, is a science-fiction and historical fiction novel about Dana Franklin who travels from 1976 California to antebellum (1816) Maryland by unknown means or a calling from Rufus Weylin, a young white boy living on a plantation with slaves, one of whom Dana is related to. She saves this nearly drowned boy and only returns to her present time when her life is threatened by a shot gun.

Through multiple time-traveling episodes, Dana becomes more akin to the slave-holding ways of Maryland and her actions become less like a modern woman of the 1970s and more like the actions of a slave from the 1800s. Even as she returns within hours to her present time, her adjustment back into her life is tough and wrought with anxiety about returning to the plantation and ensuring she can protect herself. At one point, even her white husband Kevin is trapped in the past, but his experiences are far different from hers and his sensibilities reveal what many of us know, how can you understand what slavery was like if you were not a slave yourself? Can you put yourself in the shoes of another to even empathize with them?

Dana is so naive at the start of these episodes, but she’s also curious, and while she’s given a bit of leeway by the slave owners because she does disappear and reappear randomly in their lives, she is also still considered their property, even if they have no papers to prove it. Her resemblance to Alice and her relatives also poses another threat to her freedom and it also begs the question who is her kindred in this story. She seems like Rufus in many ways (including the love of a man who is white, like Rufus’ “love” of Alice, a slave he owns), but she also seems like her relatives in that freedom to choose and love being important to them.

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler is deeply complex and utterly riveting, even if the time travel episodes are never fully explained. I sped through this audio and haven’t regretted it.

RATING: Cinquain

About the Author:

Octavia Estelle Butler was an American science fiction writer, one of the best-known among the few African-American women in the field. She won both Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, she became the first science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant.

After her father died, Butler was raised by her widowed mother. Extremely shy as a child, Octavia found an outlet at the library reading fantasy, and in writing. She began writing science fiction as a teenager. She attended community college during the Black Power movement, and while participating in a local writer’s workshop was encouraged to attend the Clarion Workshop, which focused on science fiction.

Death Throes of the Broken Clockwork Universe by Wayne David Hubbard

Source: Publisher
Paperback, 68 pgs.
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Death Throes of the Broken Clockwork Universe by Wayne David Hubbard is a slim collection of poems that transcend time and space, speaking to transient nature of love and life. There are transitions in time and space that happen in this collection, but there also is so much mystery.

In “Nightwatch,” the narrator speaks of burning capitals and “how bright was our pleasure/how quickly we faded”. In this poem, it’s clear the narrator is witnessing the passing of time and the quick end of a civilization. We often feel as though civilizations last a long time, but in the grand scheme they are a blink of an eye.

One of my favorite poems in the collection is “Solus”, which has an epigraph from Nietzsche: “When you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.”

Solus (pg. 15)

this somnolent night

we sleep with doors open

when the void stares back

we do not stir

our body as solus

our shadow - the empire

our hopes - the color

of fire

Upon reading several of these poems multiple times, you can glean a greater meaning and get a sense of the impermanence of life. But many of these poems left me wanting. There is a sense that something has broken, but there’s also an entire section of love poems that ends the collection. Was this the juxtaposition? Were these sections to speak to one another? I’m unclear on that. Death Throes of the Broken Clockwork Universe by Wayne David Hubbard does have some real gems in it.

RATING: Tercet

About the Poet:

Wayne David Hubbard is a poet, former U.S. Marine, and chess player.

The Pause and the Breath by Kwame Sound Daniels

Source: publisher
Paperback, 64 pgs.
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The Pause and the Breath by Kwame Sound Daniels is a collection of American sonnets (14 line poems, no required rhyme scheme or meter) that sheds light on the transgender experience. Opening with “Morning,” xe walks the dog and embarks on a morning routine that is all too familiar, but soon readers get a glimpse of what it means to make a decision that will change things and how those things will be permanent and how the decision is less about society and more about self-care.

My Dead (pg. 7)

I don't know them. They hover around me
and whisper, touch my shoulders, but I don't 
know them. Tired, I sit and let them chatter.
I cannot speak. The silence is for them.
They fill the space in the room, wispy and
translucent. They tell me grief will pass, hurt
will dull, and the knife of urgency will
no longer cut me. I wish I knew their
names. I want to open my mouth, whisper,
but I know I can't. They need more time
to speak to each other, to lay to rest
their obsessions, to work through their wisdom.
The cold press of their breaths weighs on my heart
and I wait, palms open, and I listen.

Daniels is laying out her internal struggles and her struggles with society and its expectations and perceptions of xir. From the old man in “Mirror” who tells a 10-year-old girl that xe has nice legs to the narrator “Washing, always washing/trying to scrub away the feeling of/skin”, there’s a self-hatred of body, gender, and skin color. There’s a search for self and what that means in a world that judges everything negatively.

Yet, in each of these poems, there is a pause or a breath that is taken, a re-centering of self. “I’m trans like” is one of the most beautiful poems in this collection, in which the narrator is a frog, taking a breath before submerging and feeling sunlight and moonlight – xe is at peace here, even if just for a moment. It is the same in “Movement,” where the narrator is a chrysanthemum and a desire for someone to see xir and be the companion xe needs and is looking for is apparent.

In “architect,” we see an empowered person taking charge of the self, crafting who they have been on the inside and showing that to the outside world. But it is a heavy burden to bear alone, and it breaks my heart. The Pause and the Breath by Kwame Sound Daniels is heartbreaking and beautiful all at once. For those of us who do not live the trans experience, this provides us with a little bit more understanding, and hopefully it will generate greater compassion.

Rating: Quatrain

About the Poet:

Kwame Sound Daniels is an artist based out of Maryland. Xir first book, Light Spun, is out with Perennial Press. Kwame’s theatre reviews are on Richmond Theatre Critics Circle’s website. Xe were a speaker at the Conference for Community Writing for the Artsies Mentorship Program. Xe are an Anaphora Arts Residency Fellow and are an MFA candidate for Vermont College of Fine Arts. Kwame learns plant medicine, paints, and makes soda in xir spare time.

Meet Me Under the Mistletoe by Jenny Bayliss

Source: gift
Paperback, 432 pgs.
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Meet Me Under the Mistletoe by Jenny Bayliss is a fun holiday read by the end, but you have to get through some awkwardness first. That can be true of meeting your childhood crush after years away, or of reconnecting with friends of means after the tragic suicide of another. Elinor Noel is a young secondhand bookstore owner in London, whose family own a flower shop in a working class town surrounded by opulence, including a castle. Is that why she moved to London to get away from the snobbery? No. In fact, after she attends the prestigious private school, she falls into friendships with some really awkward and snooty people who have no idea what it is like for Nory and her family.

She does have one solid friendship with Ameerah, whose family is jet-setting all over the globe and barely comes to see her. Nory’s family just adores Ameerah and treat her like their own. This close relationship helped me to keep reading through all the cringy and yucky exchanges with her other high-class friends, but Guy was the worst. Pippa grew on me by the end and I kind of what a whole book about how she became so poised and stand-offish and practical to the detriment of her own emotions.

Throughout the reunion with her friends at the castle to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of Charles and Jenna, Nory is feeling out of place and missing their mutual friend Tristan, but when Guy enters the picture with is smarmy comments and sleazy actions, Nory finds herself in the castle gardens in the cold looking for a place to hideout for a bit, but she ends up in a wheelbarrow of dung.

I’m not going to ruin the rest of this funny romance but I did enjoy Nory and the mystery of the paintings that she uncovers with the Head Gardener, Isaac, at the castle. Reading this as a buddy read on StoryGraph was icing on the cake, sharing thoughts and comments throughout made it even more fun. Meet Me Under the Mistletoe by Jenny Bayliss will try your patience at times, but ultimately, it’s a fun read and a good romance with lots of tension and just enough heat.

RATING: Quatrain

Photo: © Dominic Jennings

About the Author:

A former professional cake baker, Jenny Bayliss lives in a small seaside town in the UK with her husband, their children having left home for big adventures. She is also the author of The Twelve Dates of Christmas, A Season for Second Chances, and Meet Me Under the Mistletoe.

Songs in E— by Dan Brady

Source: Poet
Paperback, 80 pgs.
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Songs in E— by Dan Brady, winner of the Barclay Prize for Poetry, offers reimagined love poems from Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning in which Sonnets from the Portuguese and “One Word More” were run through an unreliable internet translator into Portuguese and back into English. The result is playful, anachronistic, and time-bending.

Some of these poems have a deep darkness in them, but by the end they lighten up like you’d expect a love poem.

Meet Cute (pg. 3)

When we met,
it was a year
like candy.
We had a gift
in each hand.
One old. One new.
We bought antiques
but gradually saw
the rips, the sad years,
the melancholy.
Assumptions took hold.
Death, you say.
No E—,
not Death,
the proximity of Heaven.

The truth of a long-term relationship is contained in those antiques, but there’s also that love that transcends all of those flaws.

Young Love (pg. 5)

Our two angels look surprised
as they bump wings in passing.

You, a pageant queen with rips in her dress.
I, a funeral singer under lattice-lights, poor and tired.

Death, the only thing we can agree on.

When reading these transformed poems of the past, they read like modern poems of love that is beginning, love that has endured, and love that is unsure. But there are moments when poems seem to reach from the past into the present and future.

Brady’s efforts to breathe new life into older poems and make them his own is successful in expressing love, even the desire to find it. I’m not a scholar who has memorized Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning, expect for the most famous “How Do I Love Thee,” so I can’t tell you which of these poems come from the original. That is until the final poem in the collection, “E—’s Song,” which appears to stay the closest to Robert Browning’s “One More Word.”

Songs in E— by Dan Brady stands on its own as a collection of poems about the many facets of love, even if readers knew nothing about how they came to be. Delightful and contemplative, they bring to life the reality of love and how humans crave it, abuse it, and cherish it all at once.

RATING: Quatrain

About the Poet:

Dan Brady is the author of the poetry collections Strange Children (2018), Subtexts (2022), and Songs in E——, winner of the Barclay Prize for Poetry, from Trnsfr Books (2023), along with two poetry chapbooks. He is the poetry editor of Barrelhouse and lives in Arlington, Virginia with his wife and two kids.

I’d Rather Be Called a Nerd by Dominic “Nerd” McDonald

Source: Publisher
Paperback, 66 pgs.
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I’d Rather Be Called a Nerd by Dominic “Nerd” McDonald, winner of the 2022 DC Poet Project, is a memoir in poems exposing what it means to be an academic Black man in America and upend the expectations of the Black community. The collection melds Hip Hop rhythms and poetry to create a unique look at academic life and being a nerd.

The collection opens with the title poem, “I’d Rather Be Called a Nerd,” in which speaks about his grandfather who pushed him to be educated and strive for more than the streets can provide. “My grandfather, rest his soul,/always told me, ‘Whatever’s clever pulls the lever.'” (pg. 1) and “this why niggas hot./They hot cause they lie, spend cash to be fly./Do anything as long as they can get by./But that’s not on my mind not does it define/what I can and will be./” (pg. 2)

McDonald’s passions are evident in every turn of phrase and poem in this collection, wearing his “nerd” title with pride. In his lyrics, he seeks to create change, motivate others, and demonstrate that other paths are available. Some of the most memorable poems for me were “Hungry,” “Pure Potential,” and “To the Bartender.” These demonstrate the ups and downs we face in which we struggle to utilize our potential (that everyone says we have) and feed our own hunger without falling into the expectations of others.

I’d Rather Be Called a Nerd by Dominic “Nerd” McDonald, winner of the 2022 DC Poet Project, is a unique blend of rap, Hip Hop, and poetry, and you can’t help by tap your toes or bop your head.

RATING: Quatrain

About the Poet:

Dominic “Nerd” McDonald is a Black entrepreneur and spoken word artist from various cities in Los Angeles, California. He has put his views on growing up in the inner city between two households, Hip Hop music, being a social outcast, college experiences, and more, into poetry, screen plays, and magazine articles. His passion comes from serving the community, especially through the arts. By writing from his heart and what he sees and hears, he hopes to be a “change agent” for the unheard. His journey led him to the DC Metro area six year ago, where he spreads influential messages and supports others who walk the same path.

Check out this interview.

Hunters Point by Peter Kageyama

Source: Publicist
Paperback, 370 pgs.
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Hunters Point by Peter Kageyama is a thrilling private investigator-based novel set in San Francisco in post-WWII. Katsuhiro “Kats” Takemoto is a decorated war veteran turned PI who takes on a local case in which shipbuilder and shipyard owners, the Vellos, are being pressured to sell their land to a developer, but what Kats uncovers is unbelievable when it leads to connections with James “Jimmy the Hat” Lanza, a government coverup, and, of course, Beat poets from the City Lights Bookstore.

(you now understand why I was interested in reading this book — WWII, poets…)

Kageyama’s characters are dynamic and deeply rounded, from Kats a Japanese-American who endured internment as a teen before joining the fight in WWII, to the Vello family and its deeply held commitment to art and business.Kats is a man who has been through a great deal and those scars show in how tries to maintain control of his emotions in every way, but Molly might just upend all that control.

The secondary characters of Molly, Shig, and Harry are three-dimensional with their own motivations, secrets, and backstories. The shadowy Sand and Lanza are less fleshed out, but for mobsters and a mystery man, it works. An additional character in this novel is Hunters Point with its bustling businesses and diverse families and workers, and it’s where the mystery is unraveled by Kats and his friends.

“They reminded him of his own father, who taught him about family and the layers of obligation, both On and Giri, the obligations we voluntarily take on and those we inherit. We carry many things, and those things make up our story.” (pg. 43)

Hunters Point by Peter Kageyama reminds me of why I love mystery/thrillers. They have you thinking fast, engaged in the action, delving deeper into the characters’ backgrounds to understand what makes them tick, and before you know it, you’ve come to the end of the mystery. And I suspect we’ll be seeing these characters again.

RATING: Quatrain

About the Author:

Peter Kageyama is the author of For the Love of Cities: The Love Affair Between People and Their Places, the follow ups, Love Where You Live: Creating Emotionally Engaging Places, and The Emotional Infrastructure of Places. In 2021, he released For the Love of Cities REVISITED, a revised and updated version of his award-winning book.

In 2023, his debut novel based on the post-internment life of his parents was released by St. Petersburg Press.

Peter is a Senior Fellow with the Alliance for Innovation, a national network of city leaders, and a special advisor to America In Bloom. He is an internationally sought-after community development consultant and grassroots engagement strategist who speaks about bottom-up community development and the amazing people who are making change happen around the world.

Our Ancestors Did Not Breathe This Air by Ayse Angela Guvenilir, Afeefah Khazi-Syed, Aleena Shabbir, Mariam Dogar, Marwa Abdulhai, and Maisha M. Prome

Source: Publisher
Paperback, 192 pgs.
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Our Ancestors Did Not Breathe This Air by Ayse Angela Guvenilir, Afeefah Khazi-Syed, Aleena Shabbir, Mariam Dogar, Marwa Abdulhai, and Maisha M. Prome is a deeply moving collection of poems from young adults finding their way not only on the college campus of MIT, but also in an adopted country. They explore what it means to carry the weight of their heritage and faith in an adopted country that often hinders the progress of those who are not American or who look different, act different, or even believe differently.

Through a variety of unfiltered voices and styles, these poets bring to life their struggles and the joy of finding their own community amid the chaos. They examine the relationships with their mothers, through rewritten lullabies and other means, but the collection is not all dreary and confusion, there are lighter moments of play, particularly in the “On Summer” section.

From "Side effects of summer may include" (pg. 41) by Mariam Doger

...
Watermelon and mango and pineapple
A mouthful of ocean spray
Sand stuck in the pages of your novel
Poolside overheating at midday

An explosion of freckles
Windswept and wild hair
Cherry-stained lips on vanilla cream cones
Bedtimes chosen without a care

...

These poems run a spectrum of emotions, and in “Welcome Home,” Maisha M. Prome explores the tension of traveling between the United States and her home country and being asked by customs if she packed her own bags and the guilt she carries even though she knows nothing will be found out of order. But she also talks of the hope in two words “Welcome Home” said to her by one agent when she arrives back in the United States and what that means and how she replays it over and over.

Our Ancestors Did Not Breathe This Air by Ayse Angela Guvenilir, Afeefah Khazi-Syed, Aleena Shabbir, Mariam Dogar, Marwa Abdulhai, and Maisha M. Prome is a collection that will provide you with a fresh perspective on the hope many migrants see in their journeys to the United States, but also reminds us that reality is often peppered with darkness and shadow. It’s how you adapt and react that sets your journey apart.

RATING: Quatrain

About the Authors:

Afeefah Khazi-Syed, Aleena Shabbir, Ayse Guvenilir, Maisha M. Prome, Mariam Dogar, and Marwa Abdulhai met as undergrads at MIT, where they often wrote poetry in each others dorm rooms. Now, they’re scattered across the country for graduate studies as they train to be doctors, engineers, mathematicians, and scientists. While the six write poetry from different backgrounds and expertise, they share the common goals of redefining literary spaces and breaking barriers through poetry. The poets hope their anthology will foster empathy and mutual reciprocity for the many intersectional facets they encapsulate.