Archipelago by Laila Malik

we built lifestories on leased sand
there was no other earth. archipelago rose
just to watch the sun
 set over the gulf.

In Archipelago, Laila Malik spins stanzas to keep “…blood thinned to a treacherously translucent memory” well-oxygenated; to provide a “legend to the map of your veins”, and to give space to memories of a life lived in the Gulf, and of Muslim family, stored deep in the “taproots”.

The best of the collection leans on simple yet bold imagery to write letters to her “stardust sister“, to tug on the threads of an old recipe so that she may “stitch the patchwork and call it our flesh“, to navigate life as a widowed mother, or to recount the myriad of experiences living in a volatile land.

While sharing experiences from childhood onwards, she shows us the everyday racism, gender violence, and war that many of us are likely fortunate to have not experienced (at least some, if not all, of these). Malik weaves careful tapestries in mainly English, but also threads of Arabic and Urdu, to which she provides translation at the end of the collection.

I will admit, though, that I am slightly disheartened to have had difficulty fully immersing myself in her work, despite the care with the subject matter and the evocative vocabulary used to paint each tableau. On reflection, I think the challenge that I faced was the cadence and rhythm used to present the stories in some of the works; in these cases, one could say that the arrangements were artistic to a fault. Regardless, I would still argue for the necessity to read Malik’s work.

they say, it broke my heart
like a heart could snap clean & instant

hearts break so slow you never see it coming
bones crack across years of gentle traction

great continents breathing deep
tectonic sighs for all the extinct words.

Underlying each of these seemingly disparate islands in the collection is blood and a heart that runs against the destruction of a homeland, be it by military means or environmental ignorance, and it provides a valuable viewpoint to what takes place outside and within a Western society that often dilutes, minimizes, or ignores different encounters.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Laila Malik is a desisporic writer in Adobigok, traditional land of the Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit River. Her writing has been published in various Canadian and international literary magazines, and her essays have been longlisted in five creative non-fiction contests and nominated for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize.

Publisher: book*hug press (April 6, 2023)
Language: English
Paperback: 86 pages
ISBN: 978-1-77166-817-0

Bryn Robinson

Website

Bryn Robinson lives in Quispamsis, NB, although she still, and always will, consider herself a Saint Johner. She uses her BA in psychology and French, and her PhD in experimental psychology, from the University of New Brunswick, to help her support health research in the province. She prefers contemporary fiction, narrative non-fiction, graphic novels and poetry - and if they are humorous, all the better. When not reading, she's exploring the New Brunswick forests and seascapes, camera in hand.