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“I am
Most
Alone
Among people.”
― Yousef Alqamoussi, poems

“When it's all too stupid out here,
I hide in books.”
― Yousef Alqamoussi, poems

“I used to think / that writing is written to be read; it isn't. / Writing is written / to be written.”
― Yousef Alqamoussi, poems

“Travel is just as much a journey inward as it is a journey out. As we soar the skies and sail the waters and crack the virgin soils of the earth, we too delve into our own caverns, peek around the corners of our dreams, tremble before our fire-breathing terrors, axe to splinters our biases and judgments and beliefs, and discover the uncharted wonders of our psyches and our hearts.”
― Yousef Alqamoussi, Chapter One: Costa Rica

“There is in me an insatiable thirst for a quest. For discovering things greater than ourselves. Beyond that is a murky darkness which beckons me to its call. I seek movement for movement's sake. There is no destination except the verb of motion...I seek to dive into the unknown and allow its wisdom to take me away. And when it is finished with me, it will bring me back and things will never be the same again.”
― Yousef Alqamoussi, Chapter One: Costa Rica

“Something about perfection
disgusts me.”
― Yousef Alqamoussi, poems

“And so I suppose now, my Fellow Reader, comes the moment I assume you've all been waiting for - the Magnum Opus of this merry tale of absurd and inflammatory nonsense in which our Holy Protagonist sets out for adventure to find himself and seek a moment of astounding enlightenment amid daring trials and tribulations and perils and dangers and gallant quests and encounters with fascinating people and enlightening conversations and unforgettable sights and upon return from this great and wild journey a new discovery of himself and the world around him and an opportunity for you Oh Holy Noble Reader to live vicariously through these incredible experiences and to dream of YOUR one day when YOU will have the courage to undertake such a journey yourself. So sit back and enjoy the ride because Costa Rica has been one zany insaney psychobrainy fuck of a holy trip.”
― Yousef Alqamoussi, Chapter One: Costa Rica

“I was hostile, and I had every right to be. Middle school didn't make any sense. If you were mean, people liked you. If you were nice, people were mean. If you teased girls, they smiled and laughed. If you complimented them, they frowned and walked away. If you were bad in class, you were hailed in the hallway. If you were good in class, you were bullied in the locker room. The pretty girls dated the ugly boys, and the only friends you had were the ones you didn't want.”
― Yousef Alqamoussi, Hadha Baladuna: Arab American Narratives of Boundary and Belonging

“Words were magic. They healed me when I was sick, comforted me when I was scared, and guided me when I was lost and alone...When confused, I consulted the Qur'an through kheerah. When thirsty, I drank from the brass cup inscribed with the Throne Verse. If I lost something, I incanted the besmalah and I would find it. We hung calligraphy on the walls and wore jewelry with Islamic inscriptions. When we entered the house, we announced our arrival with "Salam" so that evil spirits would flee.”
― Yousef Alqamoussi, Hadha Baladuna: Arab American Narratives of Boundary and Belonging

“I used to think that writing is written to be read; it isn't. Writing is written to be written.”
― Yousef Alqamoussi, poems

“Just let me know
when my fifteen minutes are up”
― Yousef Alqamoussi, poems

“Just let me know
when my fifteen minutes are up.”
― Yousef Alqamoussi, poems

“And once the kaleidoscopic whirr of the universe folded and felded and melted into the next song we gently opened our eyes and with a gentle gust we parted like parting lips like parting water drops like parting whispers in the wind's icy drift and her sweet dark hair and crisp white blouse and taut blue jeans floated away and drafted daintily down the stairs and I never saw her again.”
― Yousef Alqamoussi, Chapter One: Costa Rica

“Before my father's grave, I sit alone.
Upon some sheets of grimy paper, I write
My tale, the most dreaded of known tales,
A tale whose grisly facts poured out
Across the plains of vast Arabia.”
― Yousef Alqamoussi, The Massacre of Heartbreak Morrow

“O my people, whenever ye drink
A drop of water, remember me.
Or if ye hear of butchered men
And headless stiffs, surrender thee;
For I am the one who lies in shreds
Where my cruel foes dismembered me!”
― Yousef Alqamoussi, The Massacre of Heartbreak Morrow

“Anything can be a microphone.”
― Yousef Alqamoussi, Hadha Baladuna: Arab American Narratives of Boundary and Belonging

“Pizza is complicated.”
― Yousef Alqamoussi, Hadha Baladuna: Arab American Narratives of Boundary and Belonging

“I want to teach more than one hundred fifty kids a day," I told Adam. "I want to teach 150,000 kids a day.”
― Yousef Alqamoussi, Hadha Baladuna: Arab American Narratives of Boundary and Belonging