#2: Omar Sakr’s “America, You Sexy Fuck”

You can read the poem in Cordite Book’s “20 Poets”, available for free here.

Happy Thanksgiving. This is the second edition of my poetry column that I will continue to do every few weeks. Today, for the American holiday, I read "America, You Sexy Fuck" by Omar Sakr. Despite its funny title, this is not a "comedic" poem, but rather a poem that aims to explore America like a lover would.

Omar Sark is, by his own definition, "a queer Muslim Arab Australian from Western Sydney". At first, you would think he is not qualified to talk about America. Then you read the poem, and you see what many of us have seen living, travelling, or growing up in the United States - the sheer natural beauty of the land, the "desolation" of our scattered cities, the sometimes furious changing of the seasons.

Sakr tries to avoid veering into the political. This poem was published in his book, "These Wild Houses", in 2017. Initially, he chooses to focus on the foliage and civilization of fall - the factory smoke, the trees leaning into autumn, and "Tammy", a service worker devoted to her dying industry. He does this with sexual undertones - it's an interesting choice. Is he highlighting the attractiveness of America from the eyes of a visitor? It's also tempting to view the poem as ironic. Maybe he is body shaming America (what a strange sentence to write). I prefer to take the poem as it is. I almost feel like the narrator is taking America to prom!

It's not until the final third of the poem that Sakr decides he is "heading to your politics". But even then, he stays on state borders and roads, never touching the political key words that we know well nowadays. Desiring a nation without its governmental affairs. Can we accept America as this country and still love it for its faults? Sexuality, politics, the economy - he does cover all the great Thanksgiving dinner topics.

Finally, I want to recognize that many of us who live in America descended from visitors, refugees, people brought here against their will, and people who replaced the indigenous inhabitants of this land. Land that, as Sakr says, should be cherished, despite its waxing and waning. Have a great holiday.