The Distant Land

Most of Issa Hassan Al-Yasiri’s poems are featured with transparency, freshness, elegance of themes, grace of images, and boldness in posing inciting world issues. As he grew older and a lot of water passed under his bridge and his horizons of knowledge in poetry and culture enlarged, his poetic tools developed as well. He showed a clear inclination to what may be called ‘a linguistic density’ and a comprehensive poetic sense with a blend of local and universal elements. He also made use of the Iraqi folklore, the historical and mythical symbols, employing the technique of numerating his stanzas. This technique was a great aid to his poetic memory, helping him wander about freely in the spaces of reality and imagination far away from all restrictions of time and place. - Abdul Wahid Mohammed (Ph.D.) Emeritus Professor