Aisha Sharif Interviewed at The Rumpus

Wendy J. Fox spends time with Cave Canem fellow, poet, and educator Aisha Sharif. To begin their conversation, Fox asks, "Could you talk about the title of your collection, To Keep from Undressing. It feels both intimate and political. What’s the story behind the title, and the poem it comes from?" Picking up there: 

Aisha Sharif: The title of the book is a line from one of its poems “Iddah.” In the poem, the speaker observes her sister who, after leaving an unstable marriage, suffers from depression and constantly sleeps in her work clothes. The speaker notices that her sister does this “to keep from undressing,” which is to avoid dealing with the realities of her current life, being divorced and the internal and external shame associated with it. So she sleeps in “yesterday’s clothes” literally and figuratively to avoid dealing with her new life.

This line “to keep from undressing” represents all of the ways we, particularly as women, battle revealing and confronting aspects of ourselves. Interestingly, Muslim women “keep from undressing” in a physical sense in public by being modest and covering; there is a benefit to this, and the book includes poems that talk about the beauty of not undressing, of keeping certain powers and beauties for oneself. Yet, the book also explores how keeping from undressing in some situations can be used to hide from the truth of our lives. “To keep from undressing” as a title is a statement indicating all the ways we cover ourselves—the choices we make to reveal and conceal our selves (physical coverings and spiritual coverings), the ups and downs of that process.

Rumpus: As in some other poems, in “Why I Can Dance a Soul Train Line In Public and Still Be a Muslim” you intersect the African American experience with the Muslim American experience in America. I feel like Americans in general are pretty bad at acknowledging that we can have dual or multiple identities, even though that feels pretty basic to the American experience. What are your thoughts on this?

Sharif: I would agree that individuals having dual identities is a very American concept; in fact, it’s almost inescapable. The very idea or “founding” of America is based on the intersection of various groups of people (some willing and many unwilling) who inhabit this space—slaves, indigenous people, immigrants, refugees, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Spanish-speaking communities, native Arabic speakers, gay, straight, Northerners, Southerners, etc.

These groups, and their cultures, intersect. Their people intermarry, convert, and cohabitate which makes for a very layered existence in this country. Contrary to what some narratives and images would have people believe, to be American is to be a product of multiple heritages and identities.

As an African American, Muslim, woman from the South, I live my life constantly aware of intersectionality, how one identity intersects with and affects another.

More specifically, my parents converted from Christianity to Islam in the late 1970s and epitomized how seamless having dual identities could be in America. Growing up, we attended an Islamic school and learned Quranic Arabic, and yet we still listened to popular Black music and engaged in African dance classes. The masjid (mosque) I attended celebrated Black and American culture by taking trips to the rollerskating rink, holding fish fries after Friday prayer, lip-synch contests, and Black history programs.

I grew up seeing that being Black and Muslim was as natural as being American. My family established Islamic rituals and celebrated Ramadan, yet we would also visit our Catholic relatives in St. Louis during the summer, attend programs at their church, and talk about Lent and their fasting practices, too, as a way to bond through interfaith. I was and am aware of dual identities as natural, very much tied to my being and living in America.

Continue reading at The Rumpus.