Conspiracy Theories — Samia Saliba
Samia Saliba’s debut chapbook conspiracy theories explores the world of The X-Files as a mirror of our own world, one which allows us to probe the tensions and circulations between real and unreal, human and alien, living and dead. At once personal and ekphrastic, conspiracy theories asks what it means to believe, how we exist in relation to nature, and what is really worth being afraid of. In the spirit of The X-Files, this chapbook combines humor and eccentricity with grief, reflection, and political critique. conspiracy theories is written for lovers of The X-Files as much as it is for anyone wondering what it means to be a person.
Samia Saliba’s debut chapbook conspiracy theories explores the world of The X-Files as a mirror of our own world, one which allows us to probe the tensions and circulations between real and unreal, human and alien, living and dead. At once personal and ekphrastic, conspiracy theories asks what it means to believe, how we exist in relation to nature, and what is really worth being afraid of. In the spirit of The X-Files, this chapbook combines humor and eccentricity with grief, reflection, and political critique. conspiracy theories is written for lovers of The X-Files as much as it is for anyone wondering what it means to be a person.
Samia Saliba’s debut chapbook conspiracy theories explores the world of The X-Files as a mirror of our own world, one which allows us to probe the tensions and circulations between real and unreal, human and alien, living and dead. At once personal and ekphrastic, conspiracy theories asks what it means to believe, how we exist in relation to nature, and what is really worth being afraid of. In the spirit of The X-Files, this chapbook combines humor and eccentricity with grief, reflection, and political critique. conspiracy theories is written for lovers of The X-Files as much as it is for anyone wondering what it means to be a person.
Praise for conspiracy theories
“The poems in Samia Saliba's conspiracy theories are like lightning bolts to the heart — pulsing and strange and ripe with eerie longing: ‘i / want to believe, i want to believe, i want / to believe.’ From The X-Files to familial inheritance to questioning the self/selves to the terror of the surveillance state, each poem acts as a kind of ghostly guide through what makes us both alien and human. Saliba writes with visceral curiosity, high voltage form, and radical precision: ‘They have yet to invent / a cruelty America / can’t forgive.’ I’m in awe of these bewildering and beautiful poems, which ‘opened me up / like a jaw.’”
– Jane Wong, author of Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City
“Somewhere in the tension between ‘I want to believe’ and ‘Trust no one,’ you’ll find Samia Saliba’s slyly intimate collection conspiracy theories. This playful, agile book moves between supercharged fanfic prayers and bluntly incisive explorations of conspiracy theory as accurate description of imperial violence: ‘Reality is much worse/ than anything anyone has theorized.’ conspiracy theories deconstructs The X-Files and weaves it back together to form a moving examination of belief, the state, modernity, paranoia, and, ultimately, love: ‘when you touch my face, despite the/ heat, i believe this is true.’ I don’t know if I believe in aliens, but I do believe in these poems.”
– Fargo Nissim Tbakhi, author of TERROR COUNTER
“‘i am / talking here about death as if it is real,’ the speaker in Samia Saliba’s conspiracy theories writes. And indeed, while we read along these bold and searing poems, we are forced to question what ‘real’ means. The heart of this book pumps rhythmically with both mystery and Truth, both of which we need in order to believe in, well, anything at all. ‘i still believe in love & not in aliens. except for maybe the cat,’ she tells us. Here, contradictions live next to each other in a way we must come to accept in order to move forward with our lives. With inventive forms and authentic language, Saliba has written a book that provides a rare pleasure in unknowing.”
– Saba Keramati, author of Self-Mythology
Samia Saliba is a writer & artist from Washington State. She is writing from somewhere in Los Angeles, where she is currently a PhD student in American Studies & Ethnicity. She is a member of the Radius of Arab American writers and a Tin House Winter Workshop alum. Her poems have appeared in Apogee, AAWW, Mizna, and elsewhere. Her favorite X-Files episode is “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose.” Find her on twitter @sa_miathrmoplis or in real life petting a cat.