A review by jayisreading
The January Children by Safia Elhillo

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

The January Children is a thought-provoking and surprisingly humorous (but mostly serious) collection of poems that lives in the in-between spaces that so many people who are a member of a diaspora face. In her poems, Elhillo visits Sudan both as an insider and outsider, recognizing the complexities that come with the meaning of “home” for diasporic communities. This is pretty explicitly explored in the series of poems, “talking with an accent about home,” which are erasures of found text from interviews Elhillo conducted with members of the Sudanese diaspora that will give a lot to think about. In addition, Elhillo is also regularly in conversation with the late Egyptian singer Abdelhalim Hafez, which creates an interesting structure to her collection, as well as giving her opportunities to explore the Arabness and Africanness of Sudan.

These poems are tenderly crafted and explore big and complex topics that I not only found impactful but also informative, especially as someone who has little knowledge of Sudanese culture and history.

Some favorites: “to make use of water,” “origin stories,” “the lovers,” “first quarantine with abdelhalim hafez,” “alternate ending,” and “the part i keep forgetting”
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