Indiana Poem On Homelessness Establishes Young Poet As Powerful New Voice

Young poet Aisha Tariqa Abdul Haqq wants to know if you’ve ever stopped to wonder what it might actually be like to be poor, or to be homeless. How you would suffer, struggle and fight just to survive another day.That’s why her new Indiana poetry book, titled 'Acres of Shadow', serves as a startling wake-up call, showing you the levels of entrenched poverty and suffering that exist in one of the wealthiest countries in the world.The book’s release comes with the annual census figures, which reveal that this year there are now over 37.2 million Americans living in poverty. These census findings also showcase that the number of Americans who are below the poverty line increases every year. And, with the dramatic rise in inflation witnessed in the first quarter of 2022, they project that these numbers are set to balloon.As both a poet and an alum of Earlham College and Indiana University who studied nonprofit management and the social sciences with a focus on poverty theory and wrote a thesis on "The Culture of Poverty," Aisha Tariqa wants you to know that there is a class of generationally and chronically impoverished Americans who harbor great pain but also the enmity of American society - namely, the homeless.As such, she hopes that her poetry book, 'Acres of Shadow' will highlight the plights of what some sociologists coin "the undeserving poor" and alter your perception of the impoverished.Drawing from the author's own personal experiences with homelessness and poverty, the book will captivate you with her lyrical, moving prose and strong socio-political position. As Aisha Tariqa attests, most destitute people in America were simply dealt a bad hand in life, born into poverty or without a safety net.Her heartfelt and passionate position is depicted in forceful terms that show how the scant absence of money, which she calls the country's lifeblood, inflicts those affected by it with years, and sometimes, a lifetime of undeviating pain. You can experience more of her sterling phrasing in the following extract from one of her new book’s featured poems, called ‘On Homelessness’.On Homelessness“The question mark back of the bewildered disturbs any present moment expectations of joyAn outstretched hand for giving, have II have nothing myselfBut these solitary momentsThey are all that I ownThey, the men and women of illCarry alongside the turbulence of their livesA gait that is wafting just above the slight touch of concreteThe heaviness of their footstepsI aim to listen to their breathingTheir labored breathingOh, the journeys they carry upon their soulsThe weight of their momentsThe reds of their eyesThe smiles remaining several decades behindIt is the time that has carried themTo this place of solitudeAnd solidarity with the weight of the EarthStanding steadily upon the length of their spines”You can find more moving extracts like this one on Aisha Tariqa’s social media profiles, including on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter at @AishaTariqa.Aisha Tariqa Abdul Haqq is an Indiana State Poet who wants to create greater advocacy and awareness of the plight of America’s poor and homeless. She believes poetic verse has the power to create greater empathy and connection in the Indiana community.A spokesperson for the poet said, “Aisha Tariqa invites the reader to reflect on this poem when having discussions about those who are homeless and to remember the original and single foundational crime they have committed: the audacity to subsist and persist with nothing."If you want a poetry collection that will move, challenge, devastate and inspire you in equal measures, Aisha Tariqa Abdul Haqq’s 'Acres of Shadow' is not to be missed. It establishes her as one of the most powerful new voices in American poetry.Visit the website in the description to confront your perceptions today.