Staying Right Here

Usman Hameedi''s debut collection, Staying Right Here, is a journey in finding home. Hameedi invites readers to bear witness to vignettes of joy and hardship as he navigates finding his place in America. From an ode to Bodegas, an autobiography of his eyebrows, and elegies for lost friends, Hameedi''s thematic metaphors for family, wellness, and American biases weave a literary tapestry. Reading Usman''s work is like drinking a warm chai while watching the sunset in Brooklyn, or coming home to an aromatic Biryani. In his first poetry collection, Hameedi writes with an unmistakably unique voice that is not afraid of who he is. Staying Right Here is for those who have looked for themselves in the media and only seen a one-dimensional character staring back at them.