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Waiting for Frank Ocean in Cairo
Weaving the lyrics of Frank Ocean’s discography, Hazem Fahmy’s Waiting for Frank Ocean in Cairo is a poetic account of four years of shuffling, a catalogue of the constant in-betweenness of being caught in the middle of two places across an ocean. Exploring themes of family, gender, and the attempt to find meaning outside the confines of the state, Fahmy’s sophomore collection uses the singer’s iconic music and persona as a guidepost to a firmer understanding of the self and the spaces that define it.
“Hazem Fahmy is a poet of preservation. If a museum is a house that cares for, and displays, objects and vignettes of the past, then Waiting for Frank Ocean in Cairo is a museum. In it is a keen and compelling exhibition of haunting artifacts and moments from the speaker’s childhood in Egypt: evidence of a resistance to erasure and forgetting, even through migration to America. ‘I am still learning to forget the house / I learned to cook in. The house I stopped speaking / of love in,’ Fahmy writes. Part family album, part map across the geographies that have shaped his life—from Cairo’s many highways to L.A., Houston, and the Hudson—this book asserts the voice of a poet concerned at once with the minutely domestic and the transnational. In refreshingly honest, unadorned lyric, the poems on display here bring us into the world of a boy who wants nothing more than to dance to the backdrop of wreckage and newness, in a city ‘in love with its fences.’” —Sara Elkamel, author of Field of No Justice
“Hazem Fahmy is a poet of preservation. If a museum is a house that cares for, and displays, objects and vignettes of the past, then Waiting for Frank Ocean in Cairo is a museum. In it is a keen and compelling exhibition of haunting artifacts and moments from the speaker’s childhood in Egypt: evidence of a resistance to erasure and forgetting, even through migration to America. ‘I am still learning to forget the house / I learned to cook in. The house I stopped speaking / of love in,’ Fahmy writes. Part family album, part map across the geographies that have shaped his life—from Cairo’s many highways to L.A., Houston, and the Hudson—this book asserts the voice of a poet concerned at once with the minutely domestic and the transnational. In refreshingly honest, unadorned lyric, the poems on display here bring us into the world of a boy who wants nothing more than to dance to the backdrop of wreckage and newness, in a city ‘in love with its fences.’” —Sara Elkamel, author of Field of No Justice
- GenresPoetry
49 pages, Paperback
Published March 18, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 13, 2022
“I recall the moment
white Americans around
me started learning how to
fear the police, or at least
understand why others do.
I wish I knew what that
sweet innocence tasted like.”
Genre: Poetry
Actual Rating: 4.5 stars
Content Warnings: Mentions police brutality, discrimination, domestic abuse, and violence.
“Waiting for Frank Ocean in Cairo” is Hazem Fahmy’s sophomore book and it uses some Frank Ocean lyrics to build the story of a life: one that is split between two cultures, two continents—or across Oceans, if you will.
This poetry collection gives you a multi-sensory experience, as you’re moved by Hazem Fahmy’s words and Frank Ocean’s tunes and lyrics. Hazem Fahmy has found a way to transport you into their poetry collection in such a unique and absorbing way.
Hear me out, this is of utmost importance: as you’re reading this collection, open up whatever app or website you use to listen to music and be ready to look up Frank Ocean songs as they come up. Personally, I would listen to the song first and then read the poem, but you do you.
I think this is the most creative poetry collection I’ve read in years. I love music and how it can move you; and even though Frank Ocean isn’t amongst my favorite artists, it was still amazing to revisit his music from a whole different perspective, one that invited me to live through it.
I would recommend this poetry collection to people who like melancholic songs—those that make you want to dance *and* cry. It’s hard to read this book and not be moved. Oh, and of course, absolutely read this book if you like Frank Ocean or experimental soul and rap music in general, or if you’re up for a uniquely different poetry collection.
Thanks so much to Topaz Winter and the team at Half Mystic Press for sharing this ARC with me and including me in their blog tour.
“Music, at the end of the day, can only do so much.”
white Americans around
me started learning how to
fear the police, or at least
understand why others do.
I wish I knew what that
sweet innocence tasted like.”
Genre: Poetry
Actual Rating: 4.5 stars
Content Warnings: Mentions police brutality, discrimination, domestic abuse, and violence.
“Waiting for Frank Ocean in Cairo” is Hazem Fahmy’s sophomore book and it uses some Frank Ocean lyrics to build the story of a life: one that is split between two cultures, two continents—or across Oceans, if you will.
This poetry collection gives you a multi-sensory experience, as you’re moved by Hazem Fahmy’s words and Frank Ocean’s tunes and lyrics. Hazem Fahmy has found a way to transport you into their poetry collection in such a unique and absorbing way.
Hear me out, this is of utmost importance: as you’re reading this collection, open up whatever app or website you use to listen to music and be ready to look up Frank Ocean songs as they come up. Personally, I would listen to the song first and then read the poem, but you do you.
I think this is the most creative poetry collection I’ve read in years. I love music and how it can move you; and even though Frank Ocean isn’t amongst my favorite artists, it was still amazing to revisit his music from a whole different perspective, one that invited me to live through it.
I would recommend this poetry collection to people who like melancholic songs—those that make you want to dance *and* cry. It’s hard to read this book and not be moved. Oh, and of course, absolutely read this book if you like Frank Ocean or experimental soul and rap music in general, or if you’re up for a uniquely different poetry collection.
Thanks so much to Topaz Winter and the team at Half Mystic Press for sharing this ARC with me and including me in their blog tour.
“Music, at the end of the day, can only do so much.”
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March 11, 2022Poetry makes me believe that magic exists. It breathes new life to the stories and experiences that shape us, it reminds me of the power and weight of words, and leads me to look inwards and find my own words, too.
In his sophomore collection, Hazem Fahmy carefully weaves together the lyrics of Frank Ocean’s discography as a matter of accounting for the blending of two places separated by the ocean. He explores themes of family, gender, and identity (finding his place and meaning) through beautiful storytelling and prose.
This poetry collection is absolutely captivating and will make you think about how certain experiences (and even artists, albums, and songs) shape your life. I was easily captivated by Fahmy’s words, and the way he so seamlessly strings together memories and experiences with specific lyrics from songs found on Frank Ocean’s “Nostalgia, Ultra” mixtape and the albums “channel ORANGE”, “Endless, and “Blonde”.
We are all so shaped and influenced by what we see on TV and social media, what we listen to on the radio, and what we read. I, like Fahmy, connect with music on another level, and am drawn to the beauty and rhythm of delicate strings of words and lyrics. In one poem, Fahmy recounts a family argument at home in which he avoids by turning up the volume on a Frank Ocean song. Music can heal and drown out the pain and hurt in which we are exposed to, and even if only temporary, memories about music’s healing powers have the ability to stick with us for a lifetime.
I was most drawn to Fahmy’s poem “Frank Haunts Me Across A Decade”, as he writes: “I wanted the fleeing ecstasy only possible in the minutes of a Frank Ocean song.” Fahmy reminds us that music can heal, support, and mend us, but at the end of the day, it can only do so much. I think that no matter what we are going through, what journey we are on, or what we are seeking in life, we are all in search of a feeling — a feeling that comes from music that makes us feel most alive.
“Waiting for Frank Ocean in Cairo” is out on March 18! Thank you, Half Mystic Press, for the eARC!
In his sophomore collection, Hazem Fahmy carefully weaves together the lyrics of Frank Ocean’s discography as a matter of accounting for the blending of two places separated by the ocean. He explores themes of family, gender, and identity (finding his place and meaning) through beautiful storytelling and prose.
This poetry collection is absolutely captivating and will make you think about how certain experiences (and even artists, albums, and songs) shape your life. I was easily captivated by Fahmy’s words, and the way he so seamlessly strings together memories and experiences with specific lyrics from songs found on Frank Ocean’s “Nostalgia, Ultra” mixtape and the albums “channel ORANGE”, “Endless, and “Blonde”.
We are all so shaped and influenced by what we see on TV and social media, what we listen to on the radio, and what we read. I, like Fahmy, connect with music on another level, and am drawn to the beauty and rhythm of delicate strings of words and lyrics. In one poem, Fahmy recounts a family argument at home in which he avoids by turning up the volume on a Frank Ocean song. Music can heal and drown out the pain and hurt in which we are exposed to, and even if only temporary, memories about music’s healing powers have the ability to stick with us for a lifetime.
I was most drawn to Fahmy’s poem “Frank Haunts Me Across A Decade”, as he writes: “I wanted the fleeing ecstasy only possible in the minutes of a Frank Ocean song.” Fahmy reminds us that music can heal, support, and mend us, but at the end of the day, it can only do so much. I think that no matter what we are going through, what journey we are on, or what we are seeking in life, we are all in search of a feeling — a feeling that comes from music that makes us feel most alive.
“Waiting for Frank Ocean in Cairo” is out on March 18! Thank you, Half Mystic Press, for the eARC!
September 29, 2025
frank ocean is both a momentous muse and a momentous burden. this means that for all the glory of moments met, there is a resounding thud to “geez i would just rather listen to actual frank ocean” in certain parts.
April 17, 2022
My review on Reclamation Magazine: https://reclamationmagazine.com/2022/...
March 13, 2022
This one really hits the sweet spot, for me, of skillful yet accessible. The personal / narrative subject matter and the straightforward syntax make these poems easy to understand, while at the same time they are deep and complex enough to read many times over, having a different experience each time. There is some magic going on here. Sometimes the emotions hit me before I could process the words. The collection is real, raw, honest. If you read poetry to dive into another person's psyche, complete with their thoughts, senses, stories, desires, longings, heartaches, obsessions- give this a try.
Full thoughts in video form here: https://youtu.be/qJzLSDL-Ij8 !
Full thoughts in video form here: https://youtu.be/qJzLSDL-Ij8 !
March 30, 2022
Review of Waiting for Frank Ocean in Cairo
What does Frank Ocean have to do with diaspora, arrivals and departures, queer identity, and poetry? Everything and nothing, all at once. Hazem Fahmy does an impeccable job of melding two worlds that normally would never meet. After reading this poetry collection, Waiting for Frank Ocean in Cairo, I’m so happy they have.
Have you ever driven past somewhere notable, been on a hike, sat on a plane, train, or car while listening to a particular song, and then had that song bring memories rushing back when you listen to it years later? I’ve even had the strange experience of revisiting a location where I was listening to a song, only to have that song come back to my prefrontal cortex at lightning speed, the place seeming to hold on to the song for me.
Fahmy captures these moments of flux, of transition, of otherness, tenderly combining them with the words of Frank Ocean’s music. Each poem is a crystalline moment perfectly melded with a Frank Ocean song, with titles like “Interrogating My Family’s Living Room(s), to the Tune of “Skyline To.”
Hazem Fahmy does an incredible job bringing the reader to his memories, somehow making it possible to see, feel, and taste someone else’s experience with so few words, like in “Interrogation of Male Tears, to the Tune of “Bad Religion,”
Fahmy also takes that feeling of being young, hearing your parents fight, retreating to your room to listen to the music that soothes you when the people who were supposed to be your caretakers create the chaos that needs soothing. He does it immaculately in my favorite poem of the book, “In Which I Prefer to Blast Frank With Door Closed.” The following lines will stay with me forever,
Throughout the pages of Waiting for Frank Ocean in Cairo, I was brought back to my own memories of being a child of an immigrant family, all while peering into Hazem Fahmy’s world. The feeling of displacement, a constant sense of transition that one cannot shake, are illustrated in the lines of this book in such a subtle but tangible way. It’s strange how these feelings overlap with queerness, amplifying the sense of being an outsider, which is encapsulated in Frank Ocean’s lyrics and Fahmy’s poetry so well. The experience of being between two worlds while battling both homophobia and xenophobia makes you strong, but thankfully for us, Fahmy never lost his tenderness.
I’ll close out the review with a quote from Frank Ocean’s iconic Tumblr post reblogged around the world, where he opened up about his queerness in 2012, right around the first time I fell in love with a girl. He captures the whirlwind of love twisted with the uncertainty of a world that wasn’t built of the intensity of queer love, like Fahmy captures in his book.
He ends the post,
Waiting for Frank Ocean in Cairo by Hazem Fahmy was published in March of 2022. Half Mystic Press was kind enough to provide me an ARC for review.
What does Frank Ocean have to do with diaspora, arrivals and departures, queer identity, and poetry? Everything and nothing, all at once. Hazem Fahmy does an impeccable job of melding two worlds that normally would never meet. After reading this poetry collection, Waiting for Frank Ocean in Cairo, I’m so happy they have.
Have you ever driven past somewhere notable, been on a hike, sat on a plane, train, or car while listening to a particular song, and then had that song bring memories rushing back when you listen to it years later? I’ve even had the strange experience of revisiting a location where I was listening to a song, only to have that song come back to my prefrontal cortex at lightning speed, the place seeming to hold on to the song for me.
Fahmy captures these moments of flux, of transition, of otherness, tenderly combining them with the words of Frank Ocean’s music. Each poem is a crystalline moment perfectly melded with a Frank Ocean song, with titles like “Interrogating My Family’s Living Room(s), to the Tune of “Skyline To.”
Hazem Fahmy does an incredible job bringing the reader to his memories, somehow making it possible to see, feel, and taste someone else’s experience with so few words, like in “Interrogation of Male Tears, to the Tune of “Bad Religion,”
“I have heard this stifled song
before: my father whimpers
in the living room while I hide
behind the couch. In a cab
racing from Maadi
to rehab, Misho cries
for the first time in what feels
like years, and the sight stops me.” - Page 14
Fahmy also takes that feeling of being young, hearing your parents fight, retreating to your room to listen to the music that soothes you when the people who were supposed to be your caretakers create the chaos that needs soothing. He does it immaculately in my favorite poem of the book, “In Which I Prefer to Blast Frank With Door Closed.” The following lines will stay with me forever,
“Our house has always
been a museum of rage. I can pick any
corner to prove it.” - page 29
Throughout the pages of Waiting for Frank Ocean in Cairo, I was brought back to my own memories of being a child of an immigrant family, all while peering into Hazem Fahmy’s world. The feeling of displacement, a constant sense of transition that one cannot shake, are illustrated in the lines of this book in such a subtle but tangible way. It’s strange how these feelings overlap with queerness, amplifying the sense of being an outsider, which is encapsulated in Frank Ocean’s lyrics and Fahmy’s poetry so well. The experience of being between two worlds while battling both homophobia and xenophobia makes you strong, but thankfully for us, Fahmy never lost his tenderness.
I’ll close out the review with a quote from Frank Ocean’s iconic Tumblr post reblogged around the world, where he opened up about his queerness in 2012, right around the first time I fell in love with a girl. He captures the whirlwind of love twisted with the uncertainty of a world that wasn’t built of the intensity of queer love, like Fahmy captures in his book.
“4 summers ago, I met somebody. I was 19 years old. He was too. We spent that summer, and the summer after, together. Every day almost, and on the day we were together, time would glide. Most of the day I’d see him, and his smile. By the time I realized I was in love, it was malignant. It was hopeless.”
He ends the post,
“I feel like a free man. If I listen closely… I can hear the sky falling too.”
Waiting for Frank Ocean in Cairo by Hazem Fahmy was published in March of 2022. Half Mystic Press was kind enough to provide me an ARC for review.
July 12, 2025
I stumbled upon this book yesterday while at a book publication event, and got a chance to meet the author face to face! And as soon as I flipped through a couple pages, deliberating whether I would buy the book and take it home with me, as soon as I read the beginning lines of the opening poem, I knew I wanted to read the whole collection. It’s a short but such a copious collection of poetry prose that leaves such powerful images in my mind. He has this way of writing poetry and painting the scene without giving too much away but telling everything that needs to be said. I so relate to his the way he speaks of his emotions and his interior emotional world; I resonate painfully to the sense of silence and guardedness he feels as he interacts with the exterior. I especially felt this in the poems “Still Life of Reunion, to the Tune of ‘Close to You’”; that had to probably be my favorite poem here, which is crazy because so many poems stood out to me! And I love the way he parallels the things in his life with the music of Frank Ocean, because it’s not too direct and subtle enough. Overall, really beautiful read.
December 5, 2022
This book is worth the money just for “Frank Haunts Me Across a Decade” alone. But as a fellow hyphenated American, I also really enjoyed Fahmy’s mix of English with shards of Arabic and his explorations of assimilation/alienation in all kinds of spaces, whether geographical or psychological. This is definitely worth your read!
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May 31, 2024Personal, and oh, so risky. Truly a dangerously intimate collection. A significant amount of courage must have gone into getting this published.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews