AM: As a Yemeni American, reading The Wild Fox of Yemen, I felt these poems were beautiful love letters to Yemen and I loved and appreciated the way you captured Yemen so gracefully in terms of language, history and experience throughout the collection!
AM: I always ask this question to writers who speak multiple languages as I am just curious to know but, what language do you think in? Does it change depending on any particular factors?
TA: Both! I grew up speaking Arablish, a hyphenated mix of both languages. Being Yemeni and speaking Arabic helped me recognize and sense more, especially ideas or feelings that exist in Arabic but not in English (as well as the other way around). I’m also just obsessed with the limits of language, all the interesting ways it fails. I want to spend my life trying to stretch and examine the bilingual possibilities.
AM: You are a Yemeni American which sounds like an oxymoron as you are made up of two countries that are very opposite. How did you use this collection to convey your experience of these two countries given that you are both bint Yemenia and bint Amreekia?
TA: My poems illustrate the difficulty in separating those aspects of identity that come organically from those which are acquired second–hand. I’m constantly reminded of my “place” as a Yemeni-American. There’s a distinct attempt in my work to articulate the “betweenness” of these realms through narrations that blur the lines between memories, half-truth, desires, and history.
AM: There were many instances of going in and out of southern Yemen Arabic and English that were very seamless. How was your writing experience as you play a lot with language here, whether writing from right to left, italicizing certain phrases, in many instances not italicizing at all, as well as including Arabic words and numbers?
TA: It was a very fun experience! I’m fascinated by our relationships with the English language, that it’s something to be distrusted, bent, manipulated, remade for our purposes, and I try to play with it as often as I can.
AM: In the third section there is a photo of a woman in the Bilad. I wanted to ask what does this photo means to you and why was it important to include it in this collection?
TA: It’s a photo of my paternal grandmother, who used to live deep in the Southern valleys. I think sincere witness can function like a skeleton key, whether it’s through writing or photography. Archiving is an important aspect of my life, especially because of how elusive and secretive some Arabs can be, willing and sort of accepting of being lost to time. I consider my poetry a form of documentation. I also enjoy working with multi model styles when trying to communicate a point across.
AM: Islam was a major force in this collection and a lot of the Islamic references were woven within these poems. Did you ever think or worry that non-Muslim readers would have missed these references?
TA: A lot of readers have expressed to me that they actually had a lot of fun Googling or looking things up! A recurring animal figure in my poems is the fox, the trickster, the one who always questions—particularly of institutions, languages, and the relationships therein. There is an excavation process in translating emotions from one person to another, how I must be in this kind of constant archeological pursuit, and I strive to honor that misspeaking and crooked syntax in my writing.
AM: You have many influences ranging from Khalīl Jubrān and Abdullah Al-Bourdani to The Fugees and Nicki Minaj as well as others. How have these poets and artists influenced you in your writing?
TA: They all showed me new ways of writing. I love combining music and movies and art into my inspirations and molding something of my own from it. A cultural stew I enjoy absorbing.
AM: Throughout these poems, you bring attention to certain issues whether that be pertaining to Yemeni women, Muslims in the West, or the people of Yemen. What were your hopes in bringing these issues to the forefront in this collection?
TA: When I write about the immigrant experience, I sometimes write in Arabic to make the reader feel as thrown off, unsettled, separated, and misplaced as the speaker seeking refuge did. When I write about modern, taboo things like lust or the body, it’s because I want people to realize we aren’t all about blowing up planes and riding camels in the desert. As a Muslim woman, I feel like I subconsciously internalize the way white gaze writes about us in the media and in literature. I try to keep that in the forefront of what I’m doing and tell it through the lens of my own familial story.
AM: I wanted to point out something really beautiful in Guide to Gardening Your Roots and that is the idea of haya being a constant characteristic of Yemeni people.
TA: I proudly claim my heritage by making visible the fact I’m a Yemeni writer because I’ve never found contemporary work written by my people, especially of this generation. It makes me sad to know a culture so rich and ancient is hidden in this way. I wanted to write poems that are not shameful, not ashamed. I don’t want my people to look at the poems and think, Wow, Threa is so ashamed of us, or, Threa is so sad to be a part of us. I am very proud of my people, where I come from, and my community.
AM: What is the best piece of writing advice you’ve been given or that you live by?
TA: Allow your poems to change. Give yourself as a writer that kind of grace to know you’re also always capable of change in yourself in your work. Especially imagining more possibilities for yourself and where the work can go.
AM: Of course I have to ask, are you working on any upcoming projects?
TA: Yes! A novel that might turn into a series…👀
Threa Almontaser is the author of the award-winning poetry collection The Wild Fox of Yemen (Graywolf Press, 2021), winner of the Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, the Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize, and the Maya Angelou Book Award, and honored by the National Book Award. Threa holds a Master of Fine Arts and a TESOL certification from North Carolina State University. Her poetry explores life lived between two cultures with her poems unapologetically scattered with Arabic. Linguistically diverse, Threa gives readers a very overlooked point of view as a Yemeni American.
The Queens Review 