A Celebration of Arab American Poetry

In this episode of All of It, host Alison Stewart celebrates National Poetry Month and Arab American Heritage Month with Cleo DeLassa, a member of the New York Public Library's Poetry Committee. DeLassa shares insights from the committee's selection of 25 standout poetry collections, emphasizing works that reflect the contemporary moment, blend tradition with innovation, and explore themes of identity, displacement, and resistance. She highlights powerful voices such as Zayna Hashem Beck, whose bilingual collection *Oh* interrogates language, memory, and homeland; Dr. Fadeh Judah, whose poetry from *The Earth in the Attic* draws on his experience as a physician with Doctors Without Borders; and Palestinian poet Mohammed al-Kurd, whose unflinching work confronts war and genocide. DeLassa also praises Lena Halaf Tufaha’s 2024 National Book Award-winning collection *Living*, which connects Palestinian struggles to broader global issues like climate change and imperial overreach. The episode closes with a reading of Ariana Rines’ poem 'The Economy,' a visceral meditation on identity, authenticity, and the hollow promises of modern life.