Un-American

2021 PEN Open Book Finalist2021 NAACP Image Award Finalist, Poetry2021 Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize, LonglistDancing between lyric and narrative, Hafizah Geter's debut collection moves readers through the fraught internal and external landscapes linguistic, cultural, racial, familial of those whose lives are shaped and transformed by immigration. The daughter of a Nigerian Muslim woman and a former Southern Baptist black man, Geter charts the history of a black family of mixed citizenships through poems imbued by migration, racism, queerness, loss, and the heartbreak of trying to feel at home in a country that does not recognize you. Through her mother's death and her father's illnesses, Geter weaves the natural world into the discourse of grief, human interactions, and socio-political discord. This collection thrums with authenticity and heart. SAMPLE POEMTestimony for Tamir Rice, 2002-2014Mr. President,After they shot me they tackled my sister. The sound of her knees hitting the sidewalkmade my stomach ache. It was a bad pain. Like when you love someoneand they lie to you. Or that time Mikaela criedall through science class and wouldn't tell anyone why. This isn't even my first letter to you,in the first one I told you about my roomand my favorite basketball teamand asked you to come visit me in Clevelandor send your autograph. In the second oneI thanked you for your responsible citizenship. I hope you are proud of me too. Mom said you made being black beautiful againbut that was before someone killed Trayvon. After that came a sadness so big it made everyonelook the same. It was a long time before we couldgo outside again. Mr. President it took one whole dayfor me to die and even though I'm twelve and not afraid of the darkI didn't know there could be so much of itor so many other boys here.