Domestic Utopias: Emirati al Nabati poetry as an agent of personal, social and national transformation Poetry as a satirical socio-political polemic or means to settle a dispute is a very ancient practice in Arabia and gatherings to recite them in residences or diwan are central to moral definition among the tribes. As such they are often targeted weapons still used among the Bedouin today, whose origins have been traced to competitions such as at Ukaz, near Mecca, a pre- Islamic (al Jahili) centre of linguistic sparring (Irwin, 2001). The Classical ‘Hung’ poets, whose gilded words are raised up and adorn inside of the Ka’aba have associations with this form and as such this tradition has significant resonance in the Arabian Peninsula and beyond. Recent contributions to the vernacular or the al Nabati genre have included edgy political commentary, from Iraq and Jordan. Abbas Jijan, for example, Englished by Holes and Abu Athera takes on major political leaders and controversial events such as the likes of President Obama, Hollywood, Blackwater, 9/11 and Abu Gherb (2009). Additionally, Jordanian poet Abu Samir makes use of George Walker Bush as a Bedouin mouthpiece, for his own scathing political commentary (2004). He opens : Ah climbed atop a Texas peak, out west In our proud nation, A peak so hah no folks live there, to Fahnd some isolation. (Trans Holes and Abu Atheera, 2007) 1