Inclined to Speak: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Poetry [Paperback]

Hayan Charara (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2, 2008 | ISBN-10: 1557288674 | ISBN-13: 978-1557288677

At no other time in American history has our imagination been so engrossed with the Arab experience. An indispensable and historic volume, Inclined to Speak gathers together poems, from the most important contemporary Arab American poets, that shape and alter our understanding of this experience. These poems also challenge us to reconsider what it means to be American. Impressive in its scope, this book provides readers with an astonishing array of poetic sensibilities, touching on every aspect of the human condition. Whether about culture, politics, loss, art, or language itself, the poems here engage these themes with originality, dignity, and an unyielding need not only to speak, but also to be heard.

Here are thirty-nine poets offering up 160 poems. Included in the anthology are Naomi Shihab Nye, Samuel Hazo, D. H. Melhem, Lawrence Joseph, Khaled Mattawa, Mohja Khaf, Matthew Shenoda, Kazim Ali, Nuar Alsadir, Fady Joudah, and Lisa Suhair Majaj. Charara has written a lengthy introduction about the state of Arab American poetry in the country today and short biographies of the poets and provided an extensive list of further readings.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Make no assumptions. As with all double-named ethnicities, the designation “Arab American” encompasses people of dramatically diverse backgrounds with stories of family, war, exile, lost languages, cherished traditions, forbidden love, and the art of reinventing home and self. An Arab American is an immigrant or American-born; a Muslim, Christian, or Jew; a human being faced with negative stereotypes, made worse in the wake of 9/11. Poet Charara has gathered 160 clarion poems by 39 Arab American poets (each briskly profiled) to create a potent and synergistic anthology that illuminates the slippery elements of identity. Familiar voices––Naomi Shihab Nye, Jack Marshall, and Lawrence Joseph––combine with poets who though new to most readers will be quickly embraced, so direct, lithesome, and affecting are their poems about the solace of nature and the paradoxes of the human condition. Here are poems of Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Egypt, of New York, Detroit, and South Dakota. Born in a Palestinian refugee camp, Suheir Hammad reaches for the essence: “you’re either with life, or against it. / affirm life.” --Donna Seaman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“Hayan Charara's rich anthology of Arab-American poetry in this moment couldn't be more timely; this book opens eyes, opens worlds.”

—Mark Doty, author of Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems



"Inclined to Speak is one of the most fruitfully diverse anthologies I have read in years, as its wealth of origins might lead one to expect. Here are poets in the high tradition of international Modernism, inheritors of Neruda, Hikmet, Celan, Ritsos and Darwish, who also deploy American poetry's plural possibilities, drawing from the same sources as Stevens, Oppen, Rukeyser, Brooks, Ginsberg, Rich. Some of these poets can think and sing in more than one language; they all can think beyond monoglot frontiers.”

—Marilyn Hacker, author of Essays on Departures: New and Selected Poems, 1980–2005



“Inclined to Speak, especially in this Time, Place & Condition, when most of The Free World's Foreign Policy consists of Lies, Slander & Invasion is like Wolfbane when you hear the werewolf howling. It opens the door to a world breathing like our own, but adding dimensions that deepen our understanding of where we are and what time it is, that are immense, dreadful and wonderful.”

—Amiri Baraka, author of Somebody Blew up America and Other Poems



“These poems are a kaleidoscope of stories, visions, memories that offer a kind of transcendence we so desperately need right now. This is a marvelous collection that gives readers room to breathe, to fly, to wonder and to cry.”

—Persis M.Karim, editor and contributing poet, Let Me Tell You Where I’ve Been

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: University of Arkansas Press (March 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557288674
• ISBN-13: 978-1557288677
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #652,757 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Saladin Ahmed has been a finalist for the Nebula, Campbell, and Harper's Pen awards. His short fiction has appeared in magazines and podcasts including Strange Horizons, Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Apex Magazine, StarShipSofa and PodCastle, and has been translated into Portuguese, Czech, Dutch, and Romanian. His poetry has earned fellowships from several universities, and has appeared in over a dozen journals and anthologies. His fantasy novel Throne of the Crescent Moon is forthcoming from DAW Books in February 2012.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An eclectic and broad-reaching compilation, May 5, 2008

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inclined to Speak: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Poetry (Paperback)

Inclined to Speak: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Poetry collects works from a diversity of contemporary Arab American poets. The poems themselves cover a deep range of subjects, from culture and politics to art, language, loss, and the foibles of the human condition. Most poems are free-verse; each author's work is prefaced with a brief biography spanning one-third to one-half of a page. The result is an eclectic and broad-reaching compilation that challenges the reader to rethink his or her perspective concerning what it truly means to be an American. Highly recommended. "Mayfly (for Esme)": You have the right to / be delicate, transparent / yet still / flatten yourself against / the strong current // appear as if / you're caught in mid-swarm / when you are singularly // flying toward the light.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Defying the stereotype, March 28, 2010

By 

Y. T. Ali (Kuwait) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inclined to Speak: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Poetry (Paperback)

In a dark blue uniform
at Ellis Island says, with
Tiredness and authority,
"You only need two
Names in America," and suddenly
cleanly as air
You've lost
Your name.
At first, it's hardly
Even noticeable--it's easier you can move about
As an American--but looking back
The loss of your name
Cuts away some other part,
Something unspeakable
is lost.

Sam Hamod
From "Dying with the Wrong Name"
(pg 120 of this book).


Only in the 90s did the Arab-American community become slightly visible to academics and the media. After 9/11 however they become more visible than ever and are even called the "new black". Arab-Americans are not strangers to America, they came here alongside many other ethnic communities from around the world in the late 19th century and early 20th century. This book does not feature Arabic poetry produced in America, or American poetry in Arabic; it is Arab-American poetry.

This anthology brings the best of Arab-American poets together. The poets included in this anthology are accomplished established writers who identify as Arab-American. 39 great poets including Etel Adnan, Suheir Hammad, Nathalie Handal, Mohja Kahf, Jack Marshall, Naomi Shihab Nye and many others. Many of the poets are also scholars whose work has given form and established Arab American studies. This anthology is not just another compilation of contemporary poets; this anthology serves a cause. It makes visible the works of Arab American writers and introduces them as part of the contemporary American literary scene. Visbility is an issue frequently discussed in Arab American circles; this book is a great effort to counter stereotypical images of Arabs (and hence, Arab Americans). The introduction to this book is a must-read and should not be dismissed.

In short, this is a great book.

Other anthologies of Arab-American literature:
Post Gibran: Anthology of New Arab American Writing (Jusoor (Series), 11/12.)
Grape Leaves: A Century of Arab-American Poetry (Poetry Series)
Food for Our Grandmothers: Writings by Arab-American and Arab-Canadian Feminists