Umar Timol is a Mauritian poet, writer, and photographer. He has published four collections of poetry, two novels, and various articles in national and international journals. He has contributed to numerous anthologies in Mauritius and beyond.
I met Umar in the fall of 2018 in Iowa City at the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. He was working on a book about US citizens and how they felt about their country and asked if he could interview and photograph me. At that time I had been back in the US for six years after nearly twenty-five abroad, and I would stay almost five years more, moving on to Los Angeles after Iowa City. In Barcelona now, and staying indefinitely, this post came to mind again and I feel like sharing it here.
Thank you, Umar, for all the beautiful things you do.
October 6, 2018 · Iowa City, IA, United States ·
Marianne Mali ( Writer).
‘I have no idea anymore about what it means to be American. I am; I know that much. I also have French nationality. But I don’t really know what that means, either, though I imagine there it is possible to use “we” more easily. Here in this vast and complex country, I can only speak for myself. About what I value. Perhaps that is what being American is.
I value kindness, sincerity, unity, bravery, helpfulness, usefulness, resourcefulness, creativity, thoughtfulness, playfulness, curiosity, cleanliness, clarity, health, education, hospitality, justice, humor, civility, wilderness; is this American?
As I talked, you saw what you call my skeptical love for my country. A country I like to think of as open, spontaneous, direct, and willing to love. Yet, there is a good deal of evidence contradicting this.
I feel most connected to the pioneering spirit of my ancestors. I love the national parks and forests and traveling the county highways through this continent’s marvelous landscape.
And I recall the Pledge of Allegiance I recited daily in grade school, especially these words about the flag – “to the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”– and I ask, where is the evidence of this today?
Marianne Maili 