"Despite years of war and tsunamis of sound bites, this will be the first opportunity many readers will have to meet Iraqis as real human beings, speaking heart to heart. In these pages are the unheard voices of Iraq: men and women, Sunnis, Shias, and Kurds. These poems were collected, as the war raged all around them, by Iraqis living and working in Baghdad. This is their message to the world, one that transcends all the barriers dividing present-day Iraq." "Iraq's poets have suffered imprisonment, exile, and death for the truths they have dared to tell. Poetry is not a luxury in Iraq, but a vital part of the struggle for the nation's future. This is poetry that is feared by tyrants and would-be tyrants. You will find joy here as well as struggle. Arabic poetry has a long and rich tradition of ecstatic love, whimsical humor, and philosophic insight. Remarkably, charm and lightness of touch abound. Even the war invites you to a picnic from which you will not return untouched. Many of these poems were written in response to the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. "Tomorrow the War Will Have a Picnic," for instance, was composed on the eve of the "shock and awe" campaign against Baghdad. We see here, through Iraqi eyes, the fall of Saddam's statue, his trial, the ongoing sectarian violence, and the foreign invaders on both sides of the struggle."--BOOK JACKET.