Uyghurland, the Farthest Exile: The Furthest Exile

by Ahmatjan Osman, Jeffrey Yang (Translator)

In Jeffrey Yang’s collaborative translations from the Uyghur and Arabic, Uyghurland, the Farthest Exile collects over two decades of Ahmatjan Osman’s poetry. Osman, the foremost Uyghur poet of his generation, channels his ancestors alongside Mallarmé and Rimbaud to capture the sacred and philosophical, the ineffable and the transient, in a wholly unique lyric voice. Born in 1964, Osman grew up in Urumqi, the capital and largest city of East Turkistan. In 1982, he became one of the first Uyghur students to study abroad after the end of the Cultural Revolution, spending several years studying Arabic literature at Damascus University in Syria. Uyghurland is the first-ever collection of poetry to be translated from the Uyghur language into English.

Genres: Poetry

220 pages, Paperback

First published March 10, 2015

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two segments of the poem "Dwelling in the Warmth of Other Moons"

Moonlit Dream

Morning
approached my bed
I saw the moonlit dream on my pillow
The windows were singing
and the winds played the strings
of the tree trunks.

Memories

The moon said,
“Do you remember
when freedom fell asleep drunk in an alley
and was then abducted by the stars?
Snce that day
you, Sun, have appeared in public!”

The Sun replied,
“Do you remember
when you crashed into my room
drunk?
Since that day
my tribe has banished you, moon,
beyond the night!”

It’s been more than a year, I think, since I added anything to my ‘favorites’ shelf, but this one makes the cut. For me it’s fairly uneven, but the best work is so good that I can overlook the others. Or maybe I should say that Osman has worked in some different styles, some of which appeal to me more than others.

Ahmatjan Osman is, obviously, Uygur, and is now living in Canada in exile. His father suffered the consequences of being labeled a ‘bourgeoisie capitalist’ during the Cultural Revolution, and died young from his punishment. Osman started writing poetry early, with success, and later studied at University of Damascus in Syria. He has been greatly influenced by the French poets of the nineteenth century and many other Western writers; he’s translated many of these authors into Uyghur. However, the artistic revolution he and some other young Uyghur writers started through a journal, and the themes of his poems, eventually led to his exile first to Syria in 1994, and finally to Canada in 2004. He works blue collar jobs there now, and writes wonderful poetry. Osman writes in both Uyghur and Arabic; this is a bilingual edition with the Arabic (I’m presuming; I have no idea of what Uyghur would look like) en face the English translation.

Jeffrey Yang has produced what seem to be excellent translations, working from trots provided by Osman and much consultation. I was immediately impressed by his ability to communicate the somewhat mystical and unusual, yet still physical, images. He has also provided a very helpful preface. One important note he includes is:

Traditional Uyghur poetry is rooted in Shamanism and animism, and poetic inspiration is understood as an actual presence, what is unseen, which speaks through the poet, The speaker of the poem is an inspired other that is not the poet...Poetry is thus sanctification...

For me, the strongest works here are the selections from his earliest book, The Second Fall. The imagery is so original and powerful. Here is part of the poem

Arc of Isolation

Let the candle live its childish illusion
Let the boats fall apart one by one in the basin of the day
You own nothing but a throne without citizens
and a pale green scepter like the face of God
Whom are you heir to?
For what do you avenge yourself?
How can you give back to the sea its wish for isolation?
Fired clay abandons its casts of the dead
copper slides along the outskirts of the massacre
water is no longer a way...
Here the rocks’ sap drips into a structure of light
...

The next book shows too much college exposure to the French poets, I think, but gradually Osman works through various stages of life toward a solid voice of his own. There are love poems, and political poems, and poems that are cries of anguish, longing for home. They require slow reading and reflection, but are not hermetic. Osman is an open poet, willing to share his vision and inviting you to associate words in ways you never thought of before, as a gift.

Highly recommended. Many thanks to Phoneme Media for publishing this.

[paul holzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The tones of desperation, nostalgia, and anxiety bleed from these pages. However, the tones are more like oil to the water– the oil as poetry and the water the milieu of the author. It is fascinating, his exile to Canada acts as crucible to forge a poetic language that characterizes well the Uyghur language, and the place, or places, which it represents.

The author does not have a refuge story for the front page of the Times, nor does he have a photograph worthy to be used by the Associated Press (at least to my knowledge). Although, his voice blends an alienated world into a not so extraordinary landscape of Canada. Osman summons a memory of home that appears to not exist, or results as mystical or oneiric. He speaks a language only known to the transparent and invisible stories that walk amongst the many disillusioned denizens of the world that claim to have a home, country and nation; specifically in the Americas. Unfortunately, the Westernized citizens tend to only look Far East if a garish headline story peaks interests or entertainment. Ahmatjan Osman challenges this with his poetry.

Uyghurland: The Furthest Exile does not depreciate (what was mentioned as “story”); rather its poems bring a depth to all matters of modern migration that is quite relevant in today’s world. The rhythm and song of this collection does not clarify this abstruse theme, nor should it. The ebb and flow of the collection declares that many exiles exist and they will not end until death resonating eternally.

What happens with the displaced when “justice is reached?” What is the outcome when the misplaced are placed? In the shadow of these questions, Osman gives voice to a being and spirit subject to undefined and dark realities that are constantly imposed upon individuals found in these circumstances by evasive definitions that, unfortunately, are commonplace in mass media and pop literature; from the most conventional to the most venerable.

The poet’s patience in the shadow of this predicament, and his longing to genuinely search for a new language in light of the refugee, the migrant, the foreigner, place, and home; are consistent throughout this book. Furthermore, the rigorous translation of Jeffrey Yang falls nowhere short of what seems to be a noble and never-ending process. The lines and stanzas travelled thorough self-translation by Osman himself, were passed along to Yang whom the author trusted for his refined poetic knowledge in the English language, and concluded in a fluid reciprocity of established trust that is rampantly characteristic in all of the poems. This book is a pure and timeless creation between two dedicated individuals that are bound by an sturdy trust. This indispensable relationship between Yang and Osman presents the poems to the curious and novice reader, calling them to an experience of reading Uyghurland with a sense of familiarity; breaking borders and resonating in the liminal space of exile. This accessibility does not yield any attraction to a seasoned reader of Uyghur literature or poetry. Phoneme Media’s bilingual edition will more than satiate a reader of high familiarity.

In a time when so many humans out of dire need due to horrific circumstances are fleeing one physical place for another; “home” becomes an abyss, a perpetual and strenuous flux, much like the displaced, misplaced, or place itself. This book will take you by the hand and guide you to a place that glimpses these notions in a unique and different way. It honestly searches and cares for the vulnerable beings of this world. These poems are subversive without surrendering to exclusion or boxing in. The poetry of Ahmatjan Osman is an invisible hope that guides throughout these lines and words. Never did a reader expect such modern words to create such an arresting ancientness. Can a homogenous white Caucasian North American really resonate and capture this book? Can he or she glimpse into the world of exile? Yes. And there is something strong, declarative and inclusive in Ahmatjan Osman’s following line: “Refugee water in all of us.”

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and haunting and strange in the very best way

[Brian Brogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A distinct mystical voice, shamanistic, animistic, poetic inspiration and the imaginal as tangible existence...

[Arif · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written and translated. I can only imagine how rich it must be in the original Uyghur and Arabic (which is shown on the left side of each page). His poems revolve around displacement/exile, inherited grief, and the survival of memory in the vein of la leche sagrada de las tetas asustadas. I think above all, there is a profound sense of impotence in knowing that someone so talented and who has contributed so much to Uyghur poetry in his native country is unjustly forced to live in exile and work as a forklift operator. Even far from home, he carries the weight of his people's memory.

[C K · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted to love the poems more- but didn’t really connect. Still recognize the beauty- a book for someone else