Poets and Poems: Aisha Sharif and “To Keep from Undressing”

For Aisha Sharif, life took an abrupt turn when her upper-class Memphis-born African-American father found the stability he was looking for in Islam. She was a child, with two sisters and two brothers. Their mother came from a strong Roman Catholic family in St. Louis. The family converted to Islam. From wearing shorts and twirling the baton of a junior majorette, Sharif discovered white leggings under blue jumpers and silk-scarf hijabs. 

She had to learn the Muslim faith and the Muslim life. And she had to learn that faith and life in America. 

To Keep from Undressing is Sharif’s first collection of poetry. It tells the story of becoming Muslim in America, the story of a black woman becoming Muslim in America.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.