i could die today and live again — Summer Farah
I could die today and live again is inspired by the realm of The Legend of Zelda. Giving voice to non-player characters and blurring the boundaries of game-world and real-world, Summer Farah’s poems explore madness, girlhood, and the reverberations of empire. Fixating on the figures of the lonely child and the moon—something to be feared, something to be revered—this collection laments the loss of friends and of country, but always resolves to try again and again and again.
Praise for I could die today and live again
“Aren't we always dreaming of starting over and over, again and again? What a gift to do so in Summer's evocative collection, where she weaves worlds, makes myths, and rewrites realities with grace. Voices echo, both cautious and curious, and images loop, both haunting and comforting. Summer invites you to listen to what's unsaid, build bridges, and blur borders. And you'll remember—maybe even relish—what you thought you had long forgotten.”
—Sennah Yee, author of How Do I Look?
“Summer Farah's collection embodies the spirits of what I love most about both poems and video games: play, wonder, and imagination that leans toward possibilities. For some of us, this book is an invitation to adventure once again in The Legend of Zelda's kingdom of Hyrule—though this time that world has merged with Summer’s own; for others, it's a journey into worlds whose language will generously initiate and guide you. Either way, this exploration of youth, memory, questioning, and loneliness makes space for you to feel less alone—and to live fully into all your new starts, your infinite ongoingness.”
—Marlin M. Jenkins, author of Capable Monsters
“Zelda, to me, has always been somewhere between wistful and eldritch. Link, violently ripped from time out of time, becomes an avatar to explore a lonely, beautiful, forever doomed world. Summer Farah's work, then, is an avatar for the soul, moving through unknown worlds. Dread, hope, death, repeated—Summer's poetry revels in its wildness.”
—Nadia Shammas, co-author of Squire and Where Black Stars Rise
Summer Farah is a Palestinian American writer based in California. She edited the folio ORIGINALITYISDEAD for Violet, Indigo, Blue, Etc., served as the poetry editor for the FIYAH Palestine Solidarity issue, and wrote the monthly column POETRY DOUBLE FEATURES for Palette Poetry. Her work is anthologized in the Palestinian Poets anthology forthcoming from Haymarket Books and has been published in Mizna, LitHub, the LA Review of Books, and elsewhere. Summer organizes with the Radius of Arab American Writers and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle. Learn more at summerfarah.com.
