ADHANS & ORGASMS is a collection that includes both free verse and prose poetry. The poems shape the Florida landscape as well as cultural aspects of the speaker’s home life, providing insight to the hyphenated space between Arab and American societies. The frequent use of the female perspective and humor inform the speaker of her own past, while portraying a woman at odds with a patriarchal society.
Many of the poems explore the self through pop-culture, sexuality, and heritage. ADHANS & ORGASMS discusses the family unit’s dysfunction as it tries to bridge cultures. Romantic relationships are examined, and many of the poems consider the male muse in an effort to reverse societal expectations with unexpected subversion by turning the lens to focus on the male body.
ADHANS & ORGASMS has a variety of influences, especially third-wave feminist voices such as Elizabeth Bishop, Dorianne Laux, and Sharon Olds. Cultural poems were influenced by Richard Blanco and Naomi Shihab Nye.
