Review: Elizabeth T. Gray, Jr., on Iman Mersal

If you happen to be an Arab poet
you must have written something about [love] by now.
You must have been lost for many years
in the desert of infatuation
hunting a mystical beast that guards the only well
so you can kill it, then weep
over the crime you were fated to commit
for a sip of water.
And even after you’ve returned to your people—
you’re still a poet!

Im…