Afrose Fatima Ahmed
Poet on this Project

ARTIST STATEMENT

I approach language as a primary means of communicating a particular
embodied experience – what did it taste like? how did my body really
feel? where did I feel it? And tapping into the imagination: Was her heart a pack of ghosts wandering the hallways of her thoracic cavity? I use language that is visceral, wild and explosive. My ideas are based on how things could be and should be; ideas growing out of everyday stories, striving to tap into language that is natural - the way one might speak to an intimate, with a rhythm derived from the steady beat of blood pumping through one's veins. Language that flows with air that has been recycled 7,842 time through chlorophyll and lungs and central air conditioning systems. And in that language, no topic goes unaddressed. Nothing is too crass or too divine – not cancer, not physics, nor shame nor racism, nor babies or ecosystems. I create poetry that both terrifies and seduces the reader with its honesty and emotion. Ultimately, my goal is to embody writing in co-creation with my audience. Not perform it, but be it whether it is on stage using video and multimedia sources or offering 'improv' poetry to an unsuspecting passerby at a market. My primary tools are not just my brain and pen; they are also my body, my throat and my heart.

BIOGRAPHY
       Afrose Fatima Ahmed is a Seattle, Washington based poet who writes on city streets and at the top of evergreens and high places. She holds an M.A. in Asian Studies from the University of Texas. Afrose recently released her first poetry chapbook called 'he won't dance with me' and is currently working on another collection of poems entitled 'blood, gold and honey' that takes the form of a fictional tarot deck of cards. Read more at www.afrosefatimaahmed.com



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​Support

these layers. these inter
secting criss cross colors
from god- how they smoke.
how they evaporate. i heard
every level lifting up the other
through the soles of my feet
upon the soil as if they were
speaking to me, singly sadly
through the ears of my skin.
& then, as ash to holy ash, & dust
to divine dust, the goddess puffed
matter into air, burned solids to
build smoke, to liberate the energy
within & god said
                   it was good.

                                                                                Afrose Fatima Ahmed
                                                                                      For Frank Janzen

Antler Moon Mosaic

In arriving
At the palace of
Our preciousness
Ringing her majesty
The queen with ivory
Digits in her honoring,

We defied gravity
For her.
Stood on ceilings
For her.
So as to be more aware
Of every movement
Of her immortal physique.
This.
This revolution. These bodies

In rotation,
As if circumnambulating
The black stone
In Saudi Arabia,
The way vultures
Bless their meals
Before descending
Upon the carcass.

                                                                             Afrose Fatima Ahmed
                                                                                           For Bill Zuk