fahima ife is an American lyrical poet and essayist. She is associate professor of Black Aesthetics & Poetics in the department of Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at the University of California Santa Cruz. She is author of the poetry book, Septet for the Luminous Ones (Wesleyan University Press, 2024), the hybrid book Maroon Choreography (Duke University Press, 2021), the chapbook abalone (Albion Books, 2023), and poems appearing in Kenyon Review, Brooklyn Rail, Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora, and more. She lives on the central California coast where she practices daily rituals of love, joy, and peace.
Perhaps like a phoenix, Martin maintains such a commanding presence throughout the book because she has endured the sacrificial fire of being a poet, the necessary self-immolation.