[Frangieh] has constructed a beautiful and worthy portal for his powerful and accurate portrayal of Al-Bayati the poet through his own words. Al-Bayati's importance as a poet and a voice of modern Arab intellectual culture is successfully transmitted through the selection and translation. We observe his development as a poet, enjoying the development of particular messages, and his play with poetic form... Al-Bayati and Frangieh have given us a most satisfactory read! MESA Bulletin This fine publication will be welcome to specialists in the field and should be a revelation to a wider circle of poetry lovers. Middle East Journal

Called a "major innovator in his art form" by the New York Times, Baghdad-born poet Abdul Wahab Al-Bayati broke with over fifteen centuries of Arabic poetic tradition to write in free verse and became world famous in the process. This collection is a rare, bilingual facing-page edition in both the original Arabic text and in a highly praised English translation by Bassam K. Frangieh-containing selections from eight of Al-Bayati's books of poetry.