The Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day series featured a poem by Safia Jama, who teaches at Baruch Weissman.
“It’s Not Really about Them, It’s about Us” was sent to 300,000 Poem-a-Day subscribers on January 21 and was showcased on the Poets.org homepage, Facebook page, Twitter account, and other social media. Read the powerful poem in full here.
Jama has taught at Baruch since 2017. She’s an adjunct assistant professor in the English Department, where she teaches Writing I and II. She also teaches in the SEEK program and has taught the upper division Craft of Poetry course.
“Poetry is basically my life, along with teaching,” she said. “I truly love Baruch and its wonderful students.”
Jama has published poetry in Ploughshares, RHINO, Cagibi, Boston Review, Spoken Black Girl, and No Dear. Her poetry has also been featured on WNYC’s Morning Edition and CUNY TV’s Shades of US series.
Her debut chapbook, Notes on Resilience, was selected for Akashic Books’ acclaimed New-Generation African Poets box set series. When the chapbook was published in September 2020, at the height of the pandemic, she says she “wasn’t in a mind frame to self-promote, having just lost my uncle three weeks prior. Launch day was bittersweet to say the least.”
But having a new poem included in the Poem-a-Day series gives her a “second chance to cheer a little, and to celebrate how poetry can connect us.” She says the poem’s title, “It’s Not Really about Them, It’s about Us,” reveals her “hope for real, human connection. I was really grappling with how to be myself and accept myself exactly as I am, however messy life may feel on any given day.”
Jama was born to a Somali father and an Irish American mother in Queens. She studied English at Harvard, taught at Townsend Harris High School in Queens, and earned an MFA in poetry from Rutgers University, where she held a teaching fellowship.
She’s also a graduate fellow of Cave Canem, which describes itself as an organization founded to remedy “the underrepresentation and isolation of African American poets in the literary landscape” and “committed to cultivating the artistic and professional growth of African American poets.” Jama taught a workshop for New York-based poets of color through Cave Canem last fall.
“It felt good to share what I have learned to help others navigate the choppy waters,” she said.
To keep up with Jama’s readings and workshops, follow @safiaPOET on Twitter.
