What do you think?
Rate this book
When Time is Circular
Intimate collection of poems that explore how immigration, Black identity, and Queerness are all tied through time.
“I wrote this book as a way to go back in time,” Shams Alkamil says of her new poetry collection, inspired by the movie Arrival to see “how language and the experiences of life are not linear. Rather, they are circular.”
She begins with her own birth, but her story is far older than that, the timeless experience of womanhood, and in her case the discovery of her identity as a young “Black Muslimah” immigrant in America, circling among worlds and cultures. Inevitably she encounters violence, personally and globally (her “Ode to the Women of Palestine” has never been more necessary), and she writes her way through “anger, which really was just grief with a scary mask.” In “Time Became Circular in 2023” she determines to “plant a downtrodden stick into the [preceding] calendar year” for the sake of “every martyred soul who can never leave 2023, no matter how desperately they plead from the grave. / Yes, yes, I think it is better if I stay in 2023. I’d like not to forget how we got into this mess.”
But she also suggests a way out of the mess, in her discovery that “love is also circular. It is never lost, never abandoned, never conditional. The thread of time is, and always will be, stitched by the needle of love.”
“I wrote this book as a way to go back in time,” Shams Alkamil says of her new poetry collection, inspired by the movie Arrival to see “how language and the experiences of life are not linear. Rather, they are circular.”
She begins with her own birth, but her story is far older than that, the timeless experience of womanhood, and in her case the discovery of her identity as a young “Black Muslimah” immigrant in America, circling among worlds and cultures. Inevitably she encounters violence, personally and globally (her “Ode to the Women of Palestine” has never been more necessary), and she writes her way through “anger, which really was just grief with a scary mask.” In “Time Became Circular in 2023” she determines to “plant a downtrodden stick into the [preceding] calendar year” for the sake of “every martyred soul who can never leave 2023, no matter how desperately they plead from the grave. / Yes, yes, I think it is better if I stay in 2023. I’d like not to forget how we got into this mess.”
But she also suggests a way out of the mess, in her discovery that “love is also circular. It is never lost, never abandoned, never conditional. The thread of time is, and always will be, stitched by the needle of love.”
96 pages, Paperback
Published June 15, 2024
5 people want to read
About the author
Shams Alkamil
3 books11 followersShams Alkamil is a Black Muslim poet based in Dallas, Texas. Alkamil began writing as a mode of self-expression to then being a 3 time Pushcart Prize-nominee. Her debut book "West 24th Street" highlights the anchor a location has on lived experiences. Alkamil speaks of her struggles with queerness, self-love, and the immigrant experience.
Her work has appeared internationally in Rowayat, Ghost City Press, Four Way Review, Mizna, The Ana, Ruth Weiss Foundation, Tofu Ink Arts Press, Writer Con, Poet’s Choice, and more. In 2025, Alkamil was listed as a finalist for the Sundress Light Bill Incubator Microgrant.
Alkamil's second book "When Time is Circular" is a meditation on the different homes we encounter in life.
Her work has appeared internationally in Rowayat, Ghost City Press, Four Way Review, Mizna, The Ana, Ruth Weiss Foundation, Tofu Ink Arts Press, Writer Con, Poet’s Choice, and more. In 2025, Alkamil was listed as a finalist for the Sundress Light Bill Incubator Microgrant.
Alkamil's second book "When Time is Circular" is a meditation on the different homes we encounter in life.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 1, 2024
Had an episode of dissociation when reading my own book. It felt like I was reading another's work and I actually FELT the words. Which contrary to popular belief, writers often detach from their writing, even if deeply personal.
All to say, I'm proud of this collection.
All to say, I'm proud of this collection.
Displaying 1 of 1 review