Zikr

To be resolute in faith – in God, in oneself –
in times of grief and disappointment. To unapologetically assert one’s
woman- and personhood in a society that attempts to devalue both. To
seek hidden parts of yourself, both new and forgotten, through the
memories and words of other people.

In Zikr’s beguilingly
measured and covertly powerful poems, Saaleha Idrees Bamjee achieves
these often difficult tasks. In doing so, Bamjee introduces new idioms
and understandings of Muslim identity to South African poetry – yet not
through manifesto, nor outright polemic. This is a collection of fine
metaphors, concrete turns of phrase, and a refreshing specificity of
image, place, and self.