In brilliant, yet accessible poetry, Safia Elhillo tells the story of Samira who has been falsely branded a Bad Girl in “Bright Red Fruit” (Make Me a
World/Random House 2024). Not even her mother or her aunties will defend her. Recently immigrated from Sudan, the women watch her like a hawk. Samira wants freedom.
But everyone looks at Samira with “something gleeful/ &carnivorous, sinking into my name, my reputation/ & drawing blood, teeth wet & red & shining”.
She loves her mother but wishes she’d loosen her grip so Samira can become the person she wants to be rather than be “kept small enough to be hidden”.
She immerses herself in the world of slam poetry where she connects with a world-famous older poet named Horus. He is 25 to her 15, but he believes in her, which is so seductive.
She has two close girlfriends, Tamadur and Lina, who love her boldness. They love that she has made-up her eyes as “cat-eyed & sharp/ unafraid & unhidden”. But she’ll betray even them to spend time with Horus. He is flirtatious and oh-so-dangerous.
Samira believes in her Muslim religion, but says of her mother, “the religion we really practice is the religion/ of reputation”.
Poetry allows her to be heard, and she’s invited into a teenage poetry workshop taught by Farrah who has been shunned by their Sudanese-American community because years ago her fiancé betrayed her. The students critique each other’s work. Some of the young poets are insightful and some are competitive. Samira must untangle these threads.
But outside of this group Horus loves her poems, and nothing is more important.
Emails and text exchanges gracefully move the plot along, especially when Samira’s mother locks her into the house. Samira wants to be loved and in a wise way confronts her mother about her lack of faith in her daughter. It’s beautiful to see the reconciliation, yet that darn Horus gets in the way. She says, “my every waking hour consumed/ by thoughts of his voice, his scent, his lips”. Only Horus sees she’s not a child but are joined by their “twinned hearts”.
Eventually Horus will show his true colors, and Samira will choose her friends, her family, and her culture in this powerful and raw coming-of-age story.
Patricia Hruby Powell is the author of the award-winning books: Josephine; Lift As You Climb; Loving vs Virginia; and Struttin’ With Some Barbecue all signed and for sale at Jane Addams bookstore. Her forthcoming books are about women’s suffrage, Martha Graham, and Ella Fitzgerald, as well as waterfowl. talesforallages.com
