I first heard Youssef Alaoui recite poetry from a DVD that filmmaker Vagabond produced and played for me, and I found his poetry well-written and very interesting. When I got to know Youssef better, I found him equally interesting, a Latino Moroccan poet who speaks three languages living in California. While he is well-known and well-respected in his local community, I never heard of him, but I wanted to know more about him and his work.