Bitter English

“Finely crafted debut collection . . . . From his citizenship interview to a final meditation on the past as he asks his daughter to repeat her sentences in Arabic, Almallah’s poetry-cum-memoir doesn’t shout but with pointed, persistent, limpid lines minimized to the very essence sums up loss and fractured identity as sharply as any jeremiad.”—Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal

“Almallah explores the themes of family, home and identity in fluid language. The free verse of the poems allows for a deeper exploration of the construction of culture. . . . In accessible verse, Bitter English brings to the forefront the displacement in every aspect of the immigrant experience, and Almallah’s distinctive voice manages to put this ineffable experience into words."—Michelle Anya Anjirbag, Shelf Awareness

“Ahmad Almallah’s Bitter English is a book of prismatic pulsations writ against moving backgrounds. These counterpaeans are balm to the exiled and grieving—and to all of us newly arriving."—Charles Bernstein