Goldfish Musings, by fatima abby tall

Poetry, chapbook, 20 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

“For me this book is a care ask from myself to myself. It’s a compilation of pieces from the last six years that really encapsulate a habitual coming and going, a deep and forever conflict with one’s own ontology. With the deep shame that comes with existence. These are pieces that I’ve later in my life been very embarrassed and ashamed of. Poems from a time where poetry felt like everything to me and times where it felt like nothing at all. As I risk coming back to the world and showing it my work professionally, I want to make sure that my first collection is an homage, a veneration, a thank you to the person that has brought me here and I feel like this little chapbook does just that. A reminder that I am always and forever returning to myself. The grief that I was dealing with at 18 is the same grief I’m conversing with today. I need that to be recognized. To publish work that hasn’t been touched or returned to in years is terrifying for me, but it feels like a pertinent engagement for my own spiritual/art practice. And that’s what art feels like to me, a commitment to the grief, a commitment to myself.”

-fatima abby tall

fatima abby tall is a Black creative currently residing in Portland, Oregon. They were raised in rural Idaho but feel most at home in Dakar, Senegal. They graduated from the University of Iowa with BA’s in English and Creative Writing and Gender, Women's & Sexuality Studies. fatima does not work within one specific discipline. They tend to create art that consorts with spirit and self. Goldfish Musings is their first chapbook.