Maha
Zimmo is a Canadian Muslim womanist born in Libya, and of Palestinian roots. In
her poems, the titles are the last thing you come upon. In this way, the poet
pulls the reader into the disjunction and confusion first and second generation
immigrants experience as they forge personal and cultural identities, often
forcing the reader to take a second look at the poem, so that they might
receive and understand the work in a different light, as many must do when
facing Other.
rose-water syrup is her first book of poetry, and was published in 2019.
She
holds a Master of Arts in International Legal Theory; is a former political
analyst for several online journals including rabble, has been writing for 15+
years at onefemalecanuck.com, and is currently the resident advice
columnist at Chai Latte Diaries, as well as a regular contributor at
sister-hood magazine. Her poetry has been featured in ARC Poetry Magazine,
Cosmonauts Avenue, METATRON Press, Across the Margin, Ottawater Poetry Journal,
Taj Mahal Review, and Rise Up Review.
Q:
How long have you been in Ottawa, and what first brought you here?
My
family immigrated to Ottawa 41 years ago when I was four years old. We came
because, as many immigrants do, we had no choice. My family is Palestinian, and
Israel used one of its many 'bureaucratic' tactics to revoke my father's
Palestinian Hawyah (identity card), as one of their means to ethnically cleanse
the Occupied Territories.
Because
we had no home, my father chose what was the best. That was Canada.
Ottawa,
because one of his siblings was also here.
Q:
How did you first get involved in writing, and subsequently, the writing community
here?
I
have been writing my entire life. I would say that there was never a time when
I didn't write and so I cannot in good faith give you a start date, other than:
What I have always been is a Writer first.
I
submitted to Ottawater poetry journal. After acceptance and publication there, I
was invited to read my poetry to the Ottawa crowd and so I did. Terrified, but
met with the absolute warmest space.
Q:
How did being in such a community of writers shift your thinking about writing,
if at all?
It
has not.
Q:
What do you see happening here that you don’t see anywhere else? What does
Ottawa provide, or allow?
There
is a small and committed community of artists here which, only because I have
no others to whom I might compare them, I simply hope continues to grow and
engage more artists in all genres.
More
specifically, I would like to see the Writer's Festival dedicate and commit a
regular series to only local Ottawa talent.
Q:
Have any of your projects responded directly to your engagements here? How have
the city and its community, if at all, changed the way you approached your
work?
I
write from emotional experience, and root myself in my Faith (Islam), and so
inevitably Ottawa is the backdrop in all pieces.
That
written, and more to your point, I am here in Canada occupying land.
My
poetry speaks to the fragmentation of being a false Other, an immigrant,
someone indigenous to another land / Palestine, occupied by (also) White men,
while I sit here occupying the land of this soil's Indigenous community.
This
is, bluntly: fucked.
It
is also something to which I am absolutely beholden in terms of making certain
that I acknowledge and reflect on it. Which I do. Most notably in rose-water
syrup, my poetry collection published last year.
Q:
What are you working on now?
Several
different projects, none of which I am ready to discuss. But always, I am
writing.
