Beautiful and difficult, "The Lost Arabs" is an essential read. The writing is incredibly evocative and the imagery is breathtaking. Highly recommended for all adult poetry collections.

This book was so up my alley - poetry! Queerness! - that it almost felt like I took a wrong turn reading it. For some reason, it just didn't strike a chord with me. I feel like writing this was very cathartic for Sakr, and I'm glad it was, but these poems didn't seem to hold much weight beneath the surface, despite their heavy subject matter.

The collection is wonderful which was first published by University of Queensland and I loved it. It includes more of Arab references and culture and LGBTQ culture too. The writing style is wonderful and the poems are long

2.5 stars.

"I am obliged to love what I cannot erase. My memories
ache for this to be true. They do not want to die.
Even my darkest knowing seeks the light

as a new kind of mother. I ask the light how
to behave. It should know, it has been around at least
the block touching gentle what can be touched"

I didn’t really connect with this one much especially because I didn’t understand more than half of the metaphors and meanings that they completely went over my head. I felt exhausted while reading it and started skimming through since the poems are pretty long. The poems in this book are about the author’s feelings and views and there's some arabic words in some poems. I couldn’t relate to the authors struggles because we have differing views about how to be a Muslim. Each to their own, though I agree with him when he says, "Stop bombing the Middle East."

"In this poem, my mother has no purpose
beyond existing, beyond beauty, beyond
dancing beneath the stars. Let me give
way before meaning, let me incoherent,
let me give her this one shining moment."

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a digital copy for an honest review.

"on the hunt for villages
where a boy can love a boy & still be
called son"

I really wanted to love this book but it just wasn't for me. Poetry is a very subjective thing - something I love will be hated by someone else, and vice versa. I appreciated the messages of the book, about queer identity and xenophobia and religion. But the prose itself was not my thing.

I did really enjoy the poems "Fridays in the Park (or how to make a boy holy)" and "Birthday."

(Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.)

Thanks to NetGalley, I was able to get an arc copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Lost Arabs by Omar Sakr is a collection of poetry about refugees, war, Arabs in the modern world, sexuality, religion, politics and abuse.

If I could describe it into two words, it would be: beautifully truthful.

This book is truly and brutally honest to the point it tells it like it is.

It unapologetically illustrates the reality of Arabs, whether in the Middle East or those living in the Western world. It's so dark but hopeful at the same time. As an Arab, I easily found myself among the lines and metaphors.

The poetry, on the other hand, is gorgeously written! It flows like milk in my ears, and it's been a long time since I've seen poems crafted so well.

I highly recommend it! I can't wait to read more of Omar Sakr's future works.

I've been looking forward to this for a while and I'm glad I enjoyed it! The poetry style was different from what I'm used to, but I enjoyed how unique it was. Some of my favourite poems from this title are:
- Ameen
- Out on the Way to Melbourne
- A Beautiful Child
- Every Day
- Self Portrait of What Graces the Night
- In Order to Return

The publisher kindly offered me a reader copy via NetGalley. Yet, this is an honest review of the book expressing my unbiased opinion.

First of all, what an illustrious, vivid imagery and heartbreak this poetry book elicits. It evoked my anger, my tears, helplessness, and yet, it also made me feel less alone. I'm not Arab so I'm not the targeted audience, but the emotions of the poet resonated with me because I often share them, too. Torn between countries and languages, queer and not completely seen and understood.

The poems have this story-telling quality like they narrate a story. I loved that aspect. However, some of their wording didn't resonate with me as much as I'd like to rate it with 5 stars. But that doesn't negate how fantastic and visceral this poetry book is. I truly believe my lack of 100% connection to the book is due to this unexplained personal, subjective intangible aspect, and not due to the quality of the poems.

I also loved how the poet infused his queer identity, language, overall sense of identity, religion, culture, and history. It was done masterfully, and it's this personal sense that sets this poetry book apart from others. It is visceral. It is personal. It is authentic. It is real. And for me, that's where the best poetry emerges from. I'll definitely read more from Omar Sakr and the publisher.

4 stars – ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Author: Omar Sakr
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing

This book had such a great potential to be a solid 4.5 but certain pieces just made me want to throw away all the stars away. I didn't want to review it but I had to voice down my thoughts. First I want to talk about the good side. When I said it have a great potential to be one of the best books out there I mean it (if you remove certain pieces) the narrative is bold and amazing. The depth of some pieces reminded me of some good old poets. Right from the first poem it leaves you thinking and hooked. There were a lot of topics like war, homosexuality, refugees, religion, acceptance etc covered in a very nice manner. There were so many of the poems which are probably going to stay with me for a long time.
Then comes the piece where he talks about rage and how he just want to tear away the politics, the war, the hijab,.....the Quran?! I'm sorry what?! I had to read it multiple times wondering if I'm reading it wrong or simply not getting the hidden meaning of the poem, I still pray it's the latter. Then there was this line in one of the poem that said "they pray to nothing & to nothing will they return" (talking about people with faith) ...both these lines are whole another level of disrespect towards others religious sentiments. It's cool if you don't believe in heaven or other things but that doesn't give anyone the right to speak this way of the people who have faith or their religious books, whether you are still a part of the religion or once were. There is a line that had been crossed and which is NOT ACCEPTABLE.

I’d give this book 3 stars. Full disclosure though: I don’t usually read poetry. The book caught my attention because of the title. I’m always looking for a book about Middle Eastern people. It’s often hard to find anything that is accurate and I’m willing to go outside my comfort zone so I thought I’d give this a try.

I liked that the poet threw in some Arabic words in, I thought it felt more genuine. I found his background interesting and could actually feel his struggle with his mother’s addiction, his sexuality and his sense of belonging.

All in all, I think there were one or two poems I bookmarked and know I will read again.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Omar Sakr has the heritage, backgrounds, and statuses to make him an important voice for a number of poignant topics relating to world events. Unfortunately, Sakr's poetic voice does not allow those attributes to stand out, despite his poems speaking about his Arabic mixed background, his sexual orientation, the plight of Middle Eastern countries, and his own family's traumatic journeys. I wanted this collection to be better than it is.

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book of poetry.*

Omar Sakr is a bisexual Australian-Arab poet and his poetry deals with queerness, politics, love, family, and being Arab. I was surprised how fragile and concise the short poems were, I loved that he meantioned the djinn American Gods episode, and how fluent and natural all the poems sound. Not all poems worked for me, but they do not have to. If you want to experience what it means to be a bisexual poet with a diverse background.

One of my favourite poems was this one:
"You are not as tired of diaspora / poetry as I am of the diaspora. Sometimes // I thank God that I was born inside an American / -made tank. Sometimes I weep within // the beast. My uncle works on the railroads / and goes home to his nuclear family loathing // my queerness from afar." (A Beautiful Child, 40)

4 Stars

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me an arc of this collection!
Some favorites from this collection:
Self-Portrait as Poetry Defending Itself
The Exhibition of Autobiography
Extermination
At the Site of the Future Memorial
Every Day
A Beautiful Child

This was a very solid collection, although I think it would have been better had the poems been grouped thematically. They totally could have been and I just missed the connections. But it just felt like emotional whiplash every now and again. Some of my favorite poems from this collection had to do with the author's queerness and his relationships with his family members.
I enjoyed more poems than I did not, and would highly recommend to anyone that is interested in poetry.