Yemisi Adeleye, Contributor
Featured image courtesy of Alexia Lawson
Meet Nasim Asgari, a first-year human rights and equity studies student at York. This Tehran-born poet may be young, but she is wise beyond her years.
Her name alone seems to have predestined her talent with her first name meaning “breeze,” and her last name meaning “warrior,” culminating in “breath of a warrior,” which is evident in her poetry. She writes and performs poetry and has a book coming out titled, what was swept under the Persian rug.
Asgari first started writing poetry when she was around 10. Her first piece was a love letter to the rapper Lupe Fiasco. She draws on her personal experiences, politics, family histories, mental health, and her Iranian background for inspiration for her poetry.
Asgari lived in Switzerland for seven months, which she recounts as a tough time. “That seven months felt like seven years,” she says. With language barriers and being the only hijabi in a school of 800, Asgari felt like she did not belong.
Asgari moved back to Canada and it was here that she performed her first poem, a piece about hijab, birthed from her emotionally charged time in Switzerland.
“After I performed that piece, I got off stage and cried for a good two hours,” confesses Asgari. “I told myself, I will never perform again.”
She later came to the conclusion that “if you really love something, you’re willing to sacrifice for it.” Asgari has been performing ever since at various places around the city, such as a candlelight vigil for the victims of Chapel Hill and at a protest against Bill C-51.
Asgari also spoke about her next big project of her upcoming poetry book, what was swept under the persian rug. The title of the book draws inspiration from a story about her father and uncle and a rug they wove together. A lot of the pieces in the book are linked to the history of Iran and her family’s experiences there.
While the journey to publishing her book has been long, Asgari shares wise advice. “Since I’m putting so much into the world, I need to take my time with it,” she says as advice she received from a friend. She empathizes with Frank Ocean, a singer whose fans have been impatiently waiting for new material.
“When people are like, ‘Frank Ocean, where are you?’ I’m like no, he is taking his time with his art. Do you, [Frank Ocean]! I support you.”
Her book has a tentative release date for May of this year. You can follow Asgari’s poetry and journey through her Facebook page. Prepare to be amazed.
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