Portrait of the Poet as an Engineer

Book excerpt: Poetry. "When I read Maged Zaher's poetry I am always intrigued by the questions he asks and amazed by the unexpected layers and turns. Practically every line leads elsewhere. Saints, sex, pop culture, dreams, romance, information technology, religion, corporate life--Dante Alighieri and Barry White in the same poem--Karl Marx, Paris Hilton, Chairman Mao, Arthur Rimbaud and other suspects are all components of the volatile constellation that comprises these sharp and often funny poems. As a relatively recent arrival in the USA, Maged Zaher analyzes a contemporary America kind-of-with-a-`k,' applying a bright intelligence and tempering his sometimes irreverent enquiry with some subtle philosophizing"--Pam Brown.