Walking in the City: Muslima, Meet World
Saalim Mills – United States

Sheet, blanket, sheet,

she heard it all.

Little Naima,

six years old,

wrapped head to feet …

her tears

stone naked,

bent in the wind

and broke

as she ran home

from her first day

of public school.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and raised in the small town of Chesilhurst, New Jersey, Saalim A. M. Mills is one of eleven children. He graduated school in '99 and spent subsequent years in the U.S. Army, including a deep stint in South Korea. He is currently studying to become a Professor of Creative Writing in Louisville, Kentucky.