Expat Poems

This collection consists of expatriate poems selected from five of Robert Rahulas best known books of poetry written during his years living in Europe Mexico and Central America. The word expatriate derives from the French word expatrier (and originally from the Latin expatriatus) meaning to banish and evokes a feeling of being forced out of ones homeland... assuming one ever felt at home to start with. These are the poems of the wanderer the outcast the immigrant the pilgrim the disenfranchised the drifter the wayfarer and the nomad. Written in the portilla style of popular Spanish poetry these existential poems deal with bisexuality separateness politics the expatriate life aging and death. They are unapologetically polyamorous and realpolitik occasionally dark but never despairing. They are emblematic of the expatriate experience everywhere.