New Books Network Aisha Sasha John, "total: poems" (Random House, 2025)
Oct 9, 2025
Aisha Sasha John, a multidisciplinary poet, performer, and choreographer, dives into her latest collection, total: poems. She shares how reading ignites creative energy and describes her art as an 'energetic economy.' Aisha explores reception as a creative methodology and discusses her unique approach to deconstructing language through play. With humor and depth, she reads from her work, emphasizing the spiritual in everyday moments. Aisha also unveils her new project reflecting on her mother's dementia, blending personal vulnerability with artistic risk.
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Art As Receptive Curation
- Aisha treats artistic practice as receptive curation rather than forced generation.
- She creates conditions to listen and then frames what arises with careful authorial choices.
Language Arrives Already Formed
- Many of Aisha's lines arrive already in language, not as experiences to translate.
- She uses fragments and juxtaposition so parts vibrate against each other rather than forming full sentences.
Name The New In The Present
- Use present-tense, novel naming as a constraint to capture fresh experience.
- Treat the practice like meditation to document what has never been thought or felt before.
