Q&A with Munira Tabassum Ahmed

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“The universe is barely open. It is a sun half rising.”

~ Other People and the Geometry of the Universe by Munira Tabassum Ahmed


Your poem Other People and the Geometry of the Universe uses both cosmic and bodily imagery to explore your relationship to family, culture and heritage. Can you tell us more about the inspiration behind your piece?

The theory behind the immigrant body and the metaphor of an ancestral form transcending generations has been very important to me, as a second-generation Bangladeshi immigrant. I always want my work to ask what we owe to each other and explore how people interact with one another; this poem is an exploration of how we interact with ourselves and the generations of people before us.

You have described your piece as an “almost-quatern.” Why did you choose this structure and what did it allow you to convey?

I wanted to use the repetition of a quatern without the eight-syllable constraint. Maintaining the refrain "The universe is barely open. It is a sun half rising" throughout the poem ensured that I could switch out certain words near the end of the poem, as well as juxtapose the imagery of the universe with the concept of the immigrant body in the final line.

You were NSW runner-up in the Australian Poetry Slam 2019, and you've recently had an experimental digital poem Third Love published in The Lifted Brow. What do you enjoy about these different modes of storytelling and expression?

I aim to create work to exist both in the digital world and the physical world. I've always been interested in digital storytelling and have been trying to interrogate how we interact with poetry in the digital age. When it comes to performance poetry, that has always been a safe space for me; often a kind and supporting environment filled with creative and empathetic people. I see it as the most accessible form of poetry, and I feel it is an important test of a poet's rhythm and voice. 

Who are some great poets we should be reading (or listening) to? 

Recently, I've been reading and listening to Manisha Anjali and Danez Smith a lot, as well as playing and replaying Shastra Deo's brilliant works of digital storytelling Burnt Cellar & Heart Cellar.


Munira Tabassum Ahmed is a Bangladeshi-Australian writer and creative. Her work has been recognised by the Australian Poetry Slam, Sydney Writers' Festival, UN Youth and Australia Remade. She has received national honours and international publication for her poetry, which is published or forthcoming in Voiceworks, The Lifted Brow, The Sonora Review and elsewhere.

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