THE RED RIBBON

The Red Ribbon describes the life of a refugee. The poetry showcases the survival instincts that have pushed the author to walk barefoot over sharp-edged rocks through many terrifying valleys, and to sail across black tidal seas to seek peace and hope in a country that has offered him a sanctuary of human love – New Zealand.

THE UNSENT CONDOLENCES

BLURB – THE UNSENT CONDOLENCES

The Unsent Condolences is a collection of timely literary works, based on the real-life experiences of Abdul Samad Haidari, a Hazara former refugee and journalist. His poems are the reflection of the harsh realities within the refugee world, explaining the bitter affliction of persecution, colonization, discrimination, dehumanization, and the difficult journey of ongoing struggle, and the courage, required to survive.

Abdul Samad, who became a refugee at the age of 10-11, during the Hazara cleansing in 1990s, has been separated from his parents ever since, making his lyrical expressions powerful components of his survival narrative.                                                

Abdul Samad became child labourer in the construction site in Iran at the age of 11, and survived a live-shooting in Kand-e-Pusht Afghanistan, where two of his tribesmen were shot before his bare eyes, and survived assassination attempts for of his journalism.  

“The most recent chapter of my refugee life was closed in Indonesia, where the heavy layers of fog hazed my visions, and hid me from the outside world for nearly ten years with swords on tongue. My words lost the oxygen for freedom; it felt like the moist walls were squeezing me from all corners, the sky from above, and earth from beneath. Yet, my eyes refused to shut as my heart kept beating and jolted my fingers to pour down verses of butterflies onto the paper. “Surrounded by Mourning Frogs” was the first rhyme, my pen quilted. Each stroke rested upon the paper, sparked flames of hell upon me, hefts of pains, surging fierce and wild as if someone was nailing thorns upon my bosom with the edges of axes.” …. Abdul Samad Haidari – The Author.

A tiny part of his life is collected in The Unsent Condolences tells his story:

… We did not leave home by choice.

We escaped from carnage,

the smearing bullets,

loud like gods’ applauding sound.

We ran with fast-pumping hearts,

tightly wrapped in our palms,

the dead faces of young and old,

fragments of burning lungs

hid under our sleeves …

From ‘Fragments of autumn leaf’, The Unsent Condolences (Palaver 2023)

Abdul Samad’s poems unveil the unseen scars, etched by decades of persecution, discrimination, separation, dehumanization, and an unwavering struggle.

… The narrow sky grows drowsy,

Sun sinks, pink-coloured;

brightness declines to stay

over the part-blue tent.

I draw aside to write,

my hand trembles

as I feed the vanquishing parchment

with the rose-coloured toner,

linked straight to my heart-cells…

“An unbeatable advocate ... His sharp pen crafts verses that reflect the ever-shifting landscape of truth, casting light into the shadows of events to reveal the hidden threads that weave our world’s narrative.” … Behrouz Boochani, ‘Afterword’, The Unsent Condolences.

While The Unsent Condolences contains elements of misery, sorrow and agony, its last poem echoes with extraordinary power, highlighting the author's profound connection to his indigenous roots, the land of Rumi. In rhythmic verses, Abdul Samad gracefully embraces his identity, rejecting imposed codes and numbers, as he sings the songs of humanity, crying for peace, justice, and equality.

“Abdul speaks in many voices, but the voice of hope is faint. Not the voice that cries for justice, however. The wonder of this book – the deepest reasons why it is a gift — is that it does not allow our outrage at justice shamelessly affronted to make us doubt or despair of justice itself.  It takes our outrage to an ethical space where we can affirm even more strongly and surely our sense of the need for justice if we are to honour our humanity.” … Raimond Gaita