saaro umar is a poet, artist and therapeutic arts practitioner. her full length collection of poems, NO RECORD OF IT NEEDS TO BE KEPT, will be published with Cordite Books in 2026.

contact : saaro.umar @ gmail.com

image by jsl

saaro umar poet writer artist

current projects:

no record of it needs to be kept

wwrwtw arts inquiry

Mixed media artwork with watercolor and collage, including a large blue swirl, colorful abstract shapes, handwritten notes, and small cut-out sections of paper with text.
Mixed media art journal pages containing colorful abstract shapes, concentric circles on the left, and layered elements including a red circle, dark triangle, textured lines, and handwritten notes on the right.

Like forest, honeycomb, the garden held the pain of having chosen. The chooks, the birds, a wide plate of flowers, the small house in which I lived; the endless drip of the main tap, strength to lift up every morning and water the earth; it had all once lived within me, as an idea. Something faint and small that I grew within the field of my mind, before I knew I was gestating it. It seemed to form within her. First as a sickness, an ache for something else tangible outside of herself, a listlessness. A part of her, so silent she thought it had cut off and left from her life.