Berlin's Syrian poet writes in a universal language

 

Nisaa FM: - Syrian poet Widad Nabi has established herself as an important figure in literary circles in Germany. She has published two books of poetry and her work has been translated into German, French and English.

From Kobane in Syria to Berlin in Germany

In 2012, as in much of Syria, Nabi witnessed how waves of protests swept through Aleppo from the university to the city’s fringes. Nabi had moved to Syria's largest city to study economics at the University of Aleppo. Many of her family and friends were arrested for protesting against Assad's government.

As well as being a vocal critic of the regime, she also continued writing. “I wasn’t able to stop myself,” she said. “It was the sole refuge in the midst of all the death and destruction.”

Nabi decided to go back home to her Kurdish home town of Kobane near the Turkish border. But when she returned, she saw first-hand how the Islamic State (IS) had devastated the city.

“Everything was destroyed,” she said. “Most of the neighbourhoods had turned to rubble and Aleppo, the city where I had lived [most] of my life, had also turned into a place where one could only voice support for the Assad regime. I had lost both of my cities. I made the decision to leave in search of refuge," she says.

Nabi left to embark on a 20-day journey to Germany. She remembers being packed into a smuggler’s truck with 100 others with difficulties breathing or moving. “We were a human flock whose fate was controlled by mafias, smugglers and fighters,” she says.

In August 2015, Nabi arrived in Berlin alongside thousands of other asylum seekers.

 

Not a refugee, but a poet and a human

In 2016 she had her first poem translated in a German anthology titled 'Weg Sein heir Sein’ (Be here, be away). Soon after, German publishers and press began translating her other poetry.

Nabi experienced a lot of interest in Syrian poetry in Germany, and there were opportunities for her and other asylum seekers to produce and showcase their work. Yet, it became obvious that much of the interest focused on her identity as a refugee, rather than the quality of her literary output. Time and time again, she'd hear herself being introduced as a “refugee writer” and it made her angry. “I do not express myself as a refugee; I express myself as a poet and a human,” she says.

Looking to the future, Nabi remains hopeful. “People might meet me now as a refugee, but I hope that in 20 years' time, my writing will remain and my name will be remembered,” she says.

An excerpt from Nabi's 'Love is Blue Bruises on the Body’, translated by Ali Znaidi:

They hurt me and hung my heart on the top
of the minaret of the Umayyad Mosque.
They tortured my heart
as if it were a bird in the trap of the soldiers who destroyed Aleppo.
They plucked its colourful feathers and laughed.

Nabi believes poetry's power lies in its ability to express human ideas and feelings, a universal language transcending both physical and psychological boundaries between people. For this reason, when Nabi writes these days, she does not address Syrians or Germans. “My writing is public and I know it can touch any human wherever they may be.”
 

Source: www.middleeasteye.net