Khaled Mattawa

Khaled Mattawa is the William Wilhartz Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Michigan. His latest book of poems is Fugitive Atlas (Graywolf, 2020). A MacArthur Fellow, he is the current editor of Michigan Quarterly Review.

Translations

Youth

Saadi Youssef  | 
Issue 70.2 Spring 2021

Translated from Arabic by Khaled Mattawa In ’57 we dug, with our black nails, trenches around Damascus. The groves of Ghouta were as dense as the jungles of the Amazon. From the top of Mount Hermon, water flowed white between fingers coated with dirt. In ’57 we drank arak, a quarter carafe, with a […]

Do You Know That I No Longer Ask About You?

Saadi Youssef  | 
Issue 70.2 Spring 2021

Translated from Arabic by Khaled Mattawa A very long time has passed, and I’ve not asked about you. Have you thought, even for as long as it takes a drunk to stumble, why I no longer ask about you? Today (I mean my day, not yours) is not spent in leisure. I don’t ask […]