{"product_id":"hum-poems-9781496248022","title":"Hum: Poems","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner of the Backwaters Prize in Poetry\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe word \"hum\" in Urdu can mean both \"we\" and \"I.\" In English, it's a gesture of sound--a vibration. Sanam Sheriff's \u003ci\u003eHUM\u003c\/i\u003e is a trans call to the beauty of attempt rather than the clarity of arrival. This book seeks as the pilgrim seeks, wandering from a plural sense of self with a lyric attunement to the wound's power.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFollowing a queer, trans, Muslim speaker who grew up in southern India and migrated to the United States, Sheriff's debut collection invites us to listen: to how yearning for a country blurs with yearning for a beloved; to how exile, for queer and trans people, is where the body itself becomes a place of dignity and prayer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEnriched by Urdu lyric traditions of love, and love mourned, \u003ci\u003eHUM\u003c\/i\u003e raises the queer erotic to the heavens, even as the grief of separation lingers as paradise lost. Here, Sheriff weaves together the two most potent threads of human life: pain and love, strummed until they sing. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Backwaters Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/01\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781496248022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 84","brand":"Sanam Sheriff","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52933735973045,"sku":"9781496248022","price":15.26,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/hum-poems-9781496248022","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}