The Threshold

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A selection of luminous, fiercely intelligent verse from Egypt’s premier poet, Iman Mersal, showcases her as the great outsider poet of the Arab world. Over three decades, she has developed a voice that is both ferocious and tender, street-smart yet vulnerable. Her early work reflects the vibrant energies of Cairo’s literary bohème, a haven for “Lovers of cheap weed and awkward confessions / Anti-State agitators” and “People like me.” These poems blend wit and rage, punctuated by moments of beauty, like the “smell of guava” wafting through the City of the Dead. Other pieces confront themes of profound loss and erotic temptation, capturing “the breath of two bodies that never had enough time / and so took pleasure in their mounting terror.” Mersal’s recent work addresses the challenges of displacement and migration, exploring the risks of crossing personal and political boundaries in literature and life. This collection gathers poems from her first four collections, charting a journey from defiance to the establishment of a new, self-created sensibility. Central to her work is an indefatigably intelligent, funny, and complex persona, as she notes, “I’m pretty sure / my self-exposures / are for me to hide behind.”