Shortlisted for the Sarah Maguire Prize for Translated Poetry, 2022, The first collection of Salim Barakat's poetry in English, Come, Take a Gentle Stab represents every stage of his career, and features selections from his most acclaimed works, including excerpts from his book-length poems, rendered into an English that captures the exultation of language for which he is famous. A Kurdish-Syrian, Barakat chose to write in Arabic, the language of cultural and political hegemony that has marginalized his people. He pushes Arabic to a point just beyond its linguistic limits, resisting coherence but never destroying it. And always beneath the surface of this roiling water one can glimpse the deep currents of ancient Kurdish culture.