in literature, september 2024

bad times in alexandria, poetry in translation, queering it

hello !! long time, no see. i’ve started my junior year of college as well as a new job. we’re completing the ‘barista’ part of an english degree. still, i’ve found despite my immensely crowded schedule, i’m actively making more time for reading than i did over summer, when i had time in abundance. it’s been an interesting observation but i hold no regrets. between classes on phonetic analysis for my linguistics studies and dense readings crammed tuesday and thursday mornings for one of my literature classes, between staining my clothes with matcha and getting strawberry puree in my hair, i’ve truly read some wonderful things.

of course, the entire month of september isn’t on here— that would take too long, and perhaps i’m pushing it now, but if you wish to see more reading activity, my goodreads is the same as my pen name: d h lane :)

as always, feel free to comment what you’re up to. i can never promise a steady posting schedule, as much as i loathe that, but i can promise my dedicated attention to any and all comments this may receive. all my love, del

p.s. if you haven’t read the first installment— in literature, february, i recommend it !! there’s some incredible black poetry collections there :)

here’s september in literature <3

i did a close read on this excerpt in particular. the class it was assigned for surrounds human sexuality in literature around and after the time of the oscar wilde trials.

09/17 julia ward howe’s the hermaphrodite

i actually had to read this for a class, but i wouldn’t discount it just because it was a syllabus requirement. this is a story i undoubtedly would have read with enthusiasm myself if i were to approach it elsewhere.

the hermaphrodite follows laurence, an intersex protagonist who spends the novel entangled in various relationships that, due to lacking the proper language for his identity, become intrinsically more complicated. there’s a lot to be said about male and female desire as well as asexuality. i strongly recommend it— though we have our access and amount of queer literature skyrocketing, and though this may come across haughty, aged, dated, i felt better for reading it.

while i was grocery shopping, i slipped into barnes and noble and nearly picked up this physical copy, just so i could read it a second time. do not ask if i made purchases at barnes and noble. i most certainly did.

09/19 noor naga’s if an egyptian cannot speak english

this is by far my favorite novel i’ve read this year— i think noor naga does some really interesting storytelling and makes choices i’ve never read so well done before. she has become an author who i eagerly await reading more from in the years to come!

if an egyptian cannot speak english deals with the issues of coming to a home that isn’t really home, navigating a tumultuous relationship with a language barrier, and the harsh realities of being set apart by economic status. the two protagonists, an egyptian girl who was raised in new york city returning to alexandria with a new job and lavish new apartment, who speaks very little arabic and a boy from shobrakheit below the poverty line, who speaks very little english.

the chapters alternate their perspectives, which actually took me an embarrassingly long time to pick up, but once i realized, their voices became so organic and striking and i learned to appreciate the lack of names, the throwing us right into noor naga’s unique and impressive style. additionally, the chapters are divided by headers that ask questions. some i remember are what if female arousal is just the belief that you will not die at this man’s hands, or is it arrogant to return to a place you’ve never been?

i have a lot of things to say about this book, the three parts in which it is divided, notably, the third part and the reception of it that i’ve seen. that may very well be for a different post, though, so i’ll leave some memorable quotes here and implore you to read it if they strike you as interesting.

09/21 megan fernandes’ i do everything i’m told

starting off saying that this poetry collection checked a lot of boxes for me. there’s some books i think everyone entering their 20s should read, if only to feel a bit more seen and heard, and this really is one of them. at times, this felt reminiscent of jenny slate’s little weirds, especially tired of love poems and do you sell dignity here?

in it is also a series of sonnets surrounding places and the people of places that fernandes visits, a sort of travel writing element there in her poetry for a handful of pages which i adored as somebody who defines their own poetry by where it was written more than incidentally.

i really don’t know how many inventive ways i can say ‘hey, this is really good and something new and powerful will occur to you if you give it a chance,’ but here’s me trying.

it's not smut, it's a love story.
to be taken apart is as important as being put together.
near-annihilation reminds you of a limit
and ask yourself, who do you trust as your limit? 

- I’M SMARTER THAN THIS FEELING, BUT AM I

i was so sad out west. the truth
is i am most exquisite on the east coast, meaning i am
in rhythm. i do not track the world by beauty but joy

- LOVE POEM

favorites in this collection: phoenix, malaika, palermo sonnet, shanghai

small interruption. here’s my little love, poe!! she is undoubtedly by my side whenever i am writing in my apartment.

09/21 sarah ghazal ali’s theophanies

this collection left me speechless, utterly thrown by sarah ghazal ali’s poetry. she draws from both the Quran and the Bible for this collection, transversing through family, gender, womanhood, all strung up in faith and islamic tradition.

we are in a very fascinating and polarizing era for feminism— and while i fight against reducing any read to ‘read this to learn more about (x)’ i truly think this is a worthwhile read if you care about women’s issues, which you should. read this to become more human, read it because there are so many beautiful words in this world and there is always time to allow more into your life.

So much could lie beyond the lattice of this language that I finger but cannot unlatch. How full a tender fig in my palm before I’ve bitten it. How sweet the fruit of a soil I was born beginning to leave.

Fatal Music

O seraphim reading over my shoulder,
dutiful scribes, again just for you: I submitted faithfully to a man.

What else? More—I was confounded by an opulent voice. He loved to drawl my name, lilting into the ah

like it was an exclamation. He spoke my name and made me

a performance—a public, deviating miracle.

In our town by the sea, we walked our own procession, the last two leaves clinging to a dead stalk.

I’ll mark this obscene. I’ll demean
the ragged shore we once deemed holy.

If God willed, I’d live wholly
without want. I’d kneel and with my hair dry His feet.

Magdalene

favorites in this collection: daughter triptych, shirk, ghazal ghazal, sari, apotheosis

such incredible reads. i’ve been listening to a lot of ethel cain and rina sawayama this fall as well and i’ve recently learned how to knit. i’m very bad at it but it’s been very fun to learn how to do something new with my hands.

until october !!! xx d. h. lane