Welcome to Sunday Morning Lyricality, featuring a weekly song or poem by a Minnesota writer. Our current guest editor is Anisa Hagi-Mohamed and she says:
I’m honored to present the next poet, who has been featured previously on Lyricality: Halima Hagi-Mohamed. In addition to being my younger Sister, Halima is an incredibly talented Somali-American writer. She was born in Nairobi, Kenya and raised in California. She currently resides in Saint Cloud, Minnesota. Her writing deals with themes of family, mental health, identity, and religion. She is the author of Amilah- the anthology, and the suspense thriller Warda Means Rose. I’m constantly inspired by Halima’s creative vision, her desire to bring important topics to the forefront and her quiet but powerful way of changing the narrative through her words, actions and art/writing.
Halima’s poem is titled Shankaroon. Shankaroon is an endearing nickname used for Somali daughters/women and it means, “better than five (others)”. In this poem, Halima unpacks topics that are often brushed under the carpet in our community due to stigma, fear, generational gaps and lack of mental health resources/access.
‘Shankaroon’
Halima Hagi-Mohamed
they called her shankaroon
better than five-
before she discovered heeso
swinging her hips to mixtapes and vintage oldies
homegirl always catchin’ a vibe
they called her shankaroon
better than five-
before she let her hair down
and began dressing all out
each new week
hanging with different guys
dead of the night
they knew her as shankaroon
better than five-
before she started going out till late
smoking hookah with friends
trying to feel something
long into night
they called her shankaroon
better than five-
before she discovered percs
& got addicted to gettin’ high
all through the night
they said she was shankaroon
better than five-
after she overdosed in the bathroom
hanging on for dear life
they said she used to be shankaroon
better than five
back when she was innocent
something like
ages seven through nine
nobody spoke to her afterward
shankaroon-
the thought of her keeps them up at night
***
Halima can be reached at:
Email: Halimawrites1@gmail.com
Website: www.HalimaCreates.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/halimawrites/
***
Anisa Hagi-Mohamed is the talent behind Lyricality’s artwork, specifically our website banner, our new Sunday Morning Lyricality image and all our images on LyricaliTea. Anisa’s artwork is beautifully bright and colorful and full of shapes that really draw in attention, just checkout LyricaliTea. Anisa is apart of the Lyricality Leadership Circle, she’s is a poet, writer, teacher, mother, and just an all around multipotentialite.
