Without an Alphabet, Without a Face: Selected Poems

Like a modern troubadour, the celebrated Iraqi poet Saadi Youssef has lived in wandering exile from his homeland for more than thirty years. This selection of his lyrical, lucid and accessible poems, translated into vivid English by Khalded Mattawa, brims with love, sorrow and beauty.

Great textbook

Youssef is one of the great modernists of the present age. His poetry is what makes this book acceptable -- but this translation is not up to the task. Too many mistakes -- it misses the fluency of the original.