Miss Leila Chatti visited our university this past week, flowering Rodman Hall with her unique words. Chatti was born in California, but raised and educated near Lansing, Michigan. She boasts an impressive academic resume of a B.A. from Michigan State and an M.F.A. from North Carolina State. Additionally, Chatti has participated in fellowships at:
- Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown
- Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing
- Tin House Writers’ Workshop
- The Frost Place Conference on Poetry
- Key West Literary Seminars
- Dickinson House
- Anisfield-Wolf Fellow in Writing and Publishing at Cleveland State University (currently)
If those credentials are not enough to impress you, then her various poetry awards and publications should be. Chatti has received the Academy of American Poets Prize, Ploughshares’ Emerging Writer’s Contest, among others. All of these achievements come for good reason: Leila Chatti rocks.
After listening to Chatti’s reading, I decided to partake in my favorite late night event: tea-filled internet creeping. The more information I found out about Chatti and the more work I read, the more more my admiration grew.
Over the past few days one line has continuously filtered through my thoughts: “It says God has plans for you. It says I didn’t say they were good”. From Chatti’s “Angel,” this quote embodies her experience as a woman in the 21st century, a Muslim in America, a Tunisian/American Citizen, and a survivor of illness.
Courtesy: Medium
Chatti’s poetry is multifaceted: her poems surrounded girlhood, sexuality, Islam, and much more. I happened upon a poem titled, “After Reading DJ Khaled Will Not Perform Oral Sex On His Wife Despite Demanding That She Must, I Consider My Relationships”. Catchy title? The content is catchier. This poem ponders the dynamics of sex with a mix of both personal and societal experiences.
I am still perusing through my copy of “Tunsiya/Amrikiya,” so it is a challenge for me to discuss specific poems. Each poem I read of Chatti’s I think “this is my favorite” then I read the next and think “now this is my favorite”. Chatti’s work speaks for itself. She is genuine. She is strong. She is assured in the sense that she is not trying to be someone of something that she is not.
Courtesy: Tunsiya/Amrikiya, www.leilachatti.com
Courtesy: New-Generation African Poets, Dundee Book Company
You can follow her on Twitter, Insta, and Facebook. Leila Chatti also has an indie-fresh website that you can find here.