from one country to another, a pattern emerged:
a series of short, imagistic poems where the poet
assumes a neutral voice are then followed by a
longer, much more complicated poem.’’
Having been a poet for four decades, Yous-
sef is a writer who knows his voice and knows
how to express his experience, feelings, insights,
desires, memories, and hopes. He is also intrigu-
ing because he writes in free verse, a form that is
familiar to Western readers. However, Youssef
is not out to win over a Western readership; in
fact, he writes in Arabic and pulls no punches
with his words. Commenting on a French-lan-
guage edition ofWithout an Alphabet, Without a
Face, Marilyn Booth, in World Literature
Today, notes that Youssef’s ‘‘new collection...
puts more focus on the longer poetic reflections
that trace journeys across space and time.’’ She
adds that the poet ‘‘has been fearless in privileg-
ing the language and the cultural forms of every-
day life, as well as mundane images, in
complexly structured polyphonic poems. He
anchors his poetic journey in geographies of
exile, memory, and history.’’ Mattawa writes,
‘‘Youssef’s greatest contribution to contempo-
rary Arabic poetry lies in his consistent effort
to preserve the dignity of personal experience,
despite and within a context of difficult socio-
political realities in his native Iraq and in the
Arab world at large.’’
In Books & Culture, Laurance Wieder
encourages the reader to enjoy Youssef’s writ-
ing, noting, ‘‘Even in translation, an honest intel-
ligence shines through.’’ Wieder later adds, ‘‘One
poetry that travels well is the voice of an honest
man, talking perhaps to himself.’’ Perhaps that is
why Mattawa finds that in ‘‘America, America’’
in particular, ‘‘we experience the culmination of
Youssef’s experimentation with surprise and dis-
covery.’’ Wieder furthermore sees parallels with
Western free verse poets, specifically in reference
to ‘‘America, America.’’ Wieder comments,
‘‘Saadi Youssef’s 1995 Damascus poem, ‘Amer-
ica, America,’ has a kinship with Whitman and
Allen Ginsberg, and a sharp eye for the balance
of trade.’’CRITICISMJennifer Bussey
Bussey is an independent writer specializing in
literature. In the following essay, she compares
Saadi Youssef’s depiction of the United States in
‘‘America, America’’ to the ways American poets,
such as Walt Whitman, Allen Ginsberg, Carl
Sandburg, and Marilyn Chin, have depicted
America in their works.
Saadi Youssef is a renowned expatriate Iraqi
poet who is recognized as one of the preeminent
modern poets writing in Arabic. His verse draws
deeply from his many varied experiences in Iraq
and all over the world. While his experiences give
him vast material for his poetry, his skills with
imagery and expression invite the reader into his
past and present. The context of ‘‘America,
America’’ is the period in the 1990s when sanc-
tions were imposed against Iraq by the United
Nations. The Iraqi people knew that these sanc-
tions were spearheaded by the West, and they
particularly blamed the United States. In Yous-
sef’s poem, the speaker rails against America for
its violence and destruction against Iraq.
Although the speaker loves some things about
American culture, he wants the United States to
leave his country alone. Youssef is not vague or
subtle in his expressions of frustration and anger
toward America.Walt Whitman(The Library of Congress)
America, America