“Arapska kahva u Americi”
Translated From Croatian by Mario Frömml

Abdullah is a student, originally from Saudi Arabia.
He immigrated to America three years ago.
I have never met a Saudi up until now.

This one being a student, soon to defend his
Master’s thesis on the topic of underage delinquency
and child abuse in the Chicago metro area.

The Arabic student defends his thesis on the topic
related to the city, distant five-to-six-hour drive
from Erie, the ocean parting this topic from the boiling
deserts of his parched, native soil.

Abdullah is a student with a pleasant demeanor;
his rosy cheeks are wavy summer dunes;
his smile — a gentle brooklet, streaming into
the chapped soil.

Of him, I only know he is a Muslim;
that suffices, while we recline and converse:

about Bosnia, about Arabic investors,
about three peoples of Bosnia,
about Bosniaks living in America,
about the Muslims, about an America —

the one that is in our mutual quest for golden
troughs of the great rivers of the Wild West,

instead of roaming the university cobblestone
streets of the Old East, searching
for the new Avicennas and Averroeses.

Abdullah. The Arabic student in America
treating me to the Arabic coffee with cardamom,
tea, and dates, and his expressive idiom — reminiscent
of palms or apple trees, when their fruits ripen.

Featured Download: If you would like a resource to help write poetry like ARABIC COFFEE AS A TREAT, Click Here.