I have been writing free verse for at least last two decades. I adopted this radical form not in order to make a point, but rather the poems themselves demanded to be written in this way. Poems arrive in my mind and I write them exactly as they appear. Each poet has their own particular way of creating poems. But for me the poems simply appear in me, and then I write them down with their specific form and contents. When the poem starts I have no idea where it might take me and where it might end. Once it is written and completed, I am overwhelmed by indescribable joy.
I wrote ‘Beauty’ in the summer of 1994 in Kabul. It first appeared in my collection, A Big Picture in a Small Mirror,which was published in Peshawar in Pakistan. And later on, after adding this sentence, ‘Who, at dusk, will bathe in the clear springs of heaven, beneath the parasol of the moon…’ I republished ‘Beauty’ it in another collection called ‘The Leaden Moments of Execution’.
When I first wrote ‘Beauty’ in 1994 I wanted very much to publish it with a dedication to Farida Osman Anwari. As a young man, I grew up listening to the Zamzama Haie Shabhangam (Poetry Recital at Night) programme on the radio which was presented by Farida Osman Anwari. Her beautiful voice stimulated my poetic imagination and my interest in poetry. She recited the poems in a remarkably sensitive way which had a significant impact on my poetic achievement. And so ‘Beauty’ was inspired by her voice. But when I published the poem, I didn’t dare mention her name because I was afraid that, given the terrible times we lived though then, this dedication might upset her or even cause her problems. But now I would like to dedicate ‘Beauty’ to Farida Osman Anwari, the poem’s true inspiration.
Extracted from The Adventures of ‘Beauty’ by Partaw Naderi
