a few things that have made me happy/laugh so far in this quarantine

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You would think that being in self isolation means that I would post more regularly, check in with people more, build myself into a more well rounded human but nah. So far, I’ve spent my time reading, attempting to complete uni assignments (who knew I was a student lol) and catching as much sun as I can in my garden - alhamdulilah for indoor/outdoor spaces.

There have been a few things that have made me happy though. One being the beautiful feature film ‘Dhalinyaro (youth)’ 2019, directed by Lula Ali Ismail. It’s a stunning portrayal of Somali girlhood and sisterhood - it truly got me in my feels. Though the majority of the film is in French and Somali, there are English subtitles available if you need. The film is set in Djibouti and is very much centred and particular to that culture, but regardless the cinematography is stunning and its a beautiful portrayal of class dynamics. There’s so much that I could say about it but don’t wanna get into how it personally affected me so watch it. Here’s a link to it: ‘Dhalinyaro’

A few other things that made me happy were the Boxedin open mic live stream; the next one is on the 28th April via the instagram @weareboxedin. Cecilia Knapp’s weekly poetry workshop; every Wednesday at 2pm via Crowdsurf - contact cee for more info @ceciliaknapp. And revisiting Jay Electronica’s debut album ‘A Written Testimony’. I loved it when it was first released and felt at home in the Islamic references. Najma Sharif (@overdramatique) wrote an insightful article examining those islamic references in the album. Check it out b

And yo I pulled my hamstring muscle and it fucking aches. I didn't even pull it doing exercise or something remotely productive. I was in a work zoom meeting and climbed my lazy ass off my bed to get a pen and pop. I had to hide my pain from the camera cause my level of laziness is unprecedented.

But stay safe, don’t give into the capitalist rhetoric of we all should be learning a new skill, coming out of this bench, it’s bullshit. All you need to do is come out of this healthy.

I’m gonna leave you with a draft of a poem I wrote in Cecilia’s virtual workshop. Love xx


Wallahi

There is God in everything

but sometimes 

not in 

Wallahi.

I promise I didn’t take it.

Anything 

from your closet 

or lock myself in mine.

Wallahi 

I asked Novia 

in the lunch queue 

if she was muslim,

how wallahi 

slips from her tongue 

like date seeds.

I believed my mum 

when she said he

would get better.

I mean 

she said 

wallahi.

Screws

in an empty 

biscuit tin.

Wallahi  

I sometimes want to 

know what it is like 

to have white in me. 

Wore blue contacts

at fifteen.

Wallahi I thought

no one would notice.

There is no 

foundation shade 

made for me,

wallahi 

they want me to 

be white too.

Someday I may 

grow up to have white

in me 

wallahi 

it will caress 

my already broken 

skin like 

marble.


Amina Jama
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