KC Q&A: Meet Aisha Sharif, educator, poet, and author of ‘To Keep From Undressing’

Editor’s note: This interview is part of a Kansas City Star project created to highlight the experiences of Kansas Citians from historically under-represented communities in an effort to share their stories, including their impact on their community and the overall city, with readers. The Star will showcase these voices regularly through a series of interviews we will publish as part of our ongoing efforts to improve coverage of our communities. Do you know someone who we should write about? Send your ideas to [email protected] or Star assistant managing editor for race and equity, Mará Rose Williams, at [email protected].

When Aisha Sharif is not spending her days working as a professor of English at Metropolitan Community College or writing poetry, she likes to find a quite place to reflect. Reflection is a big part of Sharif’s process as a writer. Growing up in the south as a Black Muslim woman, the 43-year-old educator used poetry to deal with her internal struggles.

She published her first collection of poems “To Keep From Undressing” in 2019 and her latest book “Black Diamonds” was just named as finalist for the Hub City BIPOC poetry series contest. The author and poet met up with The Star’s culture and identity reporter, J.M. Banks, at a Kansas City area library to talk about writing about identity with authenticity.

Banks: Can you start by describing your upbringing and early life?

Sharif: I moved to Kansas City with my husband in 2009 but I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. I am the third of five children and went to a Muslim religious school when I was younger, then went to public school when I got older. I went to this small liberal arts college. I became active in DEI. But it wasn’t called DEI back then, it was just multi-cultural programming. I was president of the Muslim student group there.

What led you to pursue writing and poetry?

Around middle school I realized I enjoyed writing. I would write these weird emotional poems about nature. I remember writing a poem about there being a rat in my backpack. I have always loved English and writing has always been my favorite subject.

Who were your poetry influences growing up?

One of my favorite poets I discovered in undergrad was Yusef Komunyakaa. When I discovered his book, “Magic City,” I realized poetry doesn’t have to be like Shakespeare or meter or rhyme. He was writing about his growth as a Black man in Louisiana and the poems were accessible for me. So, that made me feel like I could write about my life too because I enjoyed approaching poetry as a type of confessional space.

What’s the most fulfilling part of your work as a writer and poet?

As a writer, hearing people connect with it and say that they really enjoy it and it made them think or view things in an enriching type of way. For my teaching, I think it is when the students connect and I can actually see it in their writing.

What are the most important skills you try to pass down to your students as writers?

Critical thinking. The ability to analyze and break down the rhetoric of arguments and see how it was constructed and what works well in the argument and where is it flawed. Especially today with social media where we are bombarded with information. When a student can slow down and do that it is important.

Do you have a favorite key milestone or accomplishment in your career so far?

When I published my book in 2019. That was a lifelong goal of mine. I had two life goals which were to teach on the college level and to have my book published that is about my Muslim and Black identity, because that has been so central to my writing and life. To have it published, tour with it, and give talks on it is great.

How long did it take you to write the book and get it published?

I started as an undergraduate in 2003, so it took me 15 years to write it. It is a collection of poems I have been writing over the years about being Black and Muslim. All of the joys of having that intersectionality and all the challenges of those intersectionalities. Especially growing up in Memphis, the ostracization and teasing I endured there. Also, moving away and being around Arab Muslims for the first time.

What challenges have you faced in pursuing your goals and how did you overcome these challenges?

Publishing and trying to find the right publishers. I was trying to send it out for several years. I have to take some accountability because I wasn’t sending it out as much as I should have. It probably could have been picked up earlier if I was more veracious. Some people send them out like three times a week, which can get kind of expensive. Sometimes another challenge is stopping after rejections and seeing what needs to be revised.

How does your work as a writer and an educator impact your community?

I like to think that for other African American Muslims it allows them to see their community reflected. I would say pre 9/11 there wasn’t very many of our voices in the literary world. Post 9/11 a lot of the works being recognized were by Arab Muslims. I said hold on there are more people in this Muslim diaspora than come from the Asian continent.

Are you involved in any community activities or initiatives?

I am on the Faith Advisory Committee for the World War I Museum. I am also a member of Sisters of Salaam- Shalom, who are sisters who are Muslim and Jewish. There are a lot of tensions between people of these groups so we share and show the similarities of the groups.

Do you have a personal motto or philosophy that guides you?

Something my dad used to say to me when I was younger was dare to be different. He would tell me that when I was going to middle school being the only Muslim girl at my school wearing a hijab. So that was a statement that I would always remember, especially in writing.

What drives you to continue your work/passion?

Honesty and confession. I don’t know if there is one word, but just trying to figure out what is going on. My mind feels like a puzzle and when I write it is like I am trying to put the pieces together.

What are your goals for the future, professionally or personally?

I just finished another book. I am just trying to get that one picked up. It is about widowhood, Black women and their relationship with how we deal with the death process. It is kind of inspired by my own family history and their challenges and journeys with death. I am just trying to find the right home for it now. I would like to get involved with more writing communities also.

How do you see yourself contributing to your field or community in the years to come?

I think currently through my job. I am trying to create a writer’s series to bring local creative writers to share their work and give talks. Students need to see writers outside of the classroom and outside of a textbook. I want to be able to show them Kansas City’s literary community.

What advice would you give to someone aspiring to follow a similar path?

Write what you know because if you don’t it comes off force and inauthentic. I always feel like a writer’s voice becomes clearer when you can write from your experience or knowledge. Write from a knowledge bank but also a passion bank that you know to be true, real and integral to you.