‘Love me Before the City Disappears’: Poet Nijla Mu’min

Tell me memories mean something

and I will carve your face on a tree.

Never cut it down.

Guarded with what slaps and surprises

sage and old E-40 cassettes from an OG’s trunk.

Can we love in a city lost?

Can we touch in a city gone? 

– An excerpt from “Love Me Before The City Disappears” 

April is National Poetry Month! And before it ends, we want to celebrate contemporary poetry inspired by life in the Bay Area. Producer Maria Esquinca interviews writer and director Nijla Mu’min about her poetry, which explores the Bay as a backdrop of love, growing up here, and feeling unwelcome in a place that’s changed. 

Guest: Nijla Mu’min (poet and filmmaker)

This episode was written by Maria Esquinca, produced by Ericka Cruz Guevarra and Christopher Beale, and edited by Kyana Moghadam

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