Inclined to Speak

Internet Bookwatch, May, 2008

Inclined to Speak

Hayan Charara, editor

The University of Arkansas Press

McIlroy House, 201 Ozark Avenue, Fayetteville, AR 72701

9781557288677, $24.95 www.uapress.com 1-800-626-0090

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.