"USAGE" by Haran Charara is honest and I haven't read a poem this truthful in a long time. Truthful as in the truthful knowledge of what effects the war in Iraq and 9-11 have on Arab people. But I have never read a poem by an Arab man. I don't see or hear Arab men on the street speak and I don't see them on television telling their story. I don't. Yet, right now "Usage" of the stereotypes of Arab peoples is overused, and has become a habit in the American psyche. Bush pumped up America to fear and in the Latino community, men were misidentified as Arab men Post 9-11. I know that Latino men felt frustrated by this, especially since their voices were broad casted on Spanish radio, they did not want to be in the limelight and did not want to be associated with "terrorists"

I am open to the vulnerability I feel when I read his poem, as well as the questions that arise, that there is something that I am not knowledgeable in because I wasn't taught Middle Eastern history through the experience and lens of the people. I do feel the longing to know more.

• According to the Oxford English Dictionary USAGE means: 1. a. Habitual use, established custom or practice, customary mode of action, on the part of a number of persons; long-continued use or procedure; custom, habit. (= USE n. 7, 9.) In group (b), coupled with cognate terms, esp. custom.

Haran begins his piece with the terror of having to shake the mayor's hand because "he smiled at everyone except people with names like mine. I was born here. I didn't have to adopt America, but I adapted to it." This feels so true and this poem, is it free verse or is it a long letter or prose or italicized sentences or breaks and punches. His poem form evokes a BLOG and reminds me of the Internet.

He lists data, "The Human Cost of War in Iraq", yet before this he talks about his grandfather who slept on a cot in the basement of his house for seventeen days during the air strikes, then on the 18th day he died. This piece is modern, digitized, piercing through us like a raid and a yet this piece is personal. Hayan reflects on his father's journey as an American who pays taxes and owns a car and frankly is as American as apple pie.

This quote is about his grandfather who died on the eighteenth day.
"/Besides, he was eighty-two years old. I can write what I please. I don't need to ask, May I?"

There is more than one speaker, the italicized form suggests dialogueDialogue between generations, homage, cultural appropriation, disrespect, ignorance, respect, death.

In this quote by Haran Charara, the complexities of being a man of color who can pass as a different ethnicity other than his own is complex. Its complex because he is seen as just another colored man but it is still difficult for the black man to say Arab before Pakistani, perhaps because Pakistanis are more known? or why does Mexican, come before Puerto Rican? The fact that the black man in the park can ask so bluntly "What are you?" shows the relationship of a person who is asking that question: and what they really mean is they want you to be they person they have in their minds, before you can even share who you are, where you come from and what your story is. Language also plays a huge part because the speaker speaks English but doesn't look American and he could be Mexican because of the influx of immigration or he could be Puerto Rican because he

"When the black man in the park asked, "Are you Mexican, Puerto Rican, or are you Pakistani?" and I said, "I'm Arab," and he replied, "Damn. Someone don't like you very much," I understood perfectly what he meant."

I feel blessed to be able to read Inclined to Speak and after reading this poem I reflect on what this anthology wants the reader to take away from reading their poems, especially Charara.

~Melissa