Where the Apple Falls
[Buy online]
“Samiya Bashir writes bravely
and beautifully from the inside out. We are
fortunate to have her blazing, graceful poems in
this fine first collection.”
—Elizabeth Alexander
Where the Apple Falls
resides at the intersections between woman/ female,
both human and environmental, and the concepts to
which she is often linked (without her consent):
death; rebirth; victim; sexual/perverse. Seasons are
crucial: from the birth of Spring through Autumn’s
final harvest the work suggests a recasting of the
farmer; a reclamation of both fall and redemption/
death/ (re)birth on her own terms.
ISBN: 0-9656659-7-6
Price: $14.00
Pub. Date: June 2005
Cover art: Ruth McFarlane
Cover design: Eunice Corbin
Praise for Where the Apple Falls
“In her debut collection
Where the Apple Falls, Samiya Bashir demands we
listen and hear the symphony of stories that ‘sail
on the ochre cushion of these moonlit poems.’ In
‘Moon Cycling,’ she writes: ‘Don’t come by my door/
Smellin’ fresh like that/ Sizzling like summer/
Steak medium rare/ I’ll think you are/ My supper.’
But she opens the door and her words and images grab
us and never let go. She challenges ideas of
edginess, religion, beauty, sexuality and
imagination. Bashir’s language is vivid and
compelling in lines like ‘Crooked back bowed into
the new black moon.’ There’s remarkable womanness,
vulnerability, pain and insight in these lines…
Where the Apple Falls can at times be a
difficult read, as many poems are dense and complex.
But here is a new and provocative voice comfortable
in the skin of her poems, secure in her poetic
vision.
—Black Issues Book Review
Bashir’s first book of poems
is a moving blend of personal narrative and lyric
grace. Poems that deal with the legacy of slavery
are haunting, such as the intimacy and danger in
“Floating Down the Delaware”: “Black skin rots
cerulean blue. The/ two bodies were found on
Thursday/ night. No wonder I can’t keep track/ of
time.” Bashir’s finely crafted lines touch on
migration, faith, urban life and the lives of women,
never letting their reach slacken.
—Curve Magazne
[E]xpand[s] the range of questions American poetry can
and should ask. Bashir zooms in on exquisite
details—from childhood rituals to her lover’s
lips—then her topics explode outward as she grapples
with war, violence against women, and the legacy of
slavery. A tendency to make lists sometimes dilutes
Bashir’s voice, but overall, her writing is precise
with rage, intelligence, and tenderness shimmering
through.”
—Girlfriends Magazine
There is no denying
Bashir’s talent. Confidence shines through her
poetry like a beacon, and there is a smartness to
her writing that puts all on notice that this is the
start of a long career, that she will not be
silenced, and that she has a lot to say.
—Page & Author
Of all the poems in
Where the Apple Falls, not a one is
overwrought, pretentious or half-stepping. Each is
stunning, smart and real. To read this book is to
eat an extraordinary fruit, licking its juices all
the way.
—Cheryl Clarke
