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Waiting
Waiting... is a prose book by Noura Ghazi Safadi, a Syrian human rights lawyer, born in Damascus in 1981, written to her husband Bassel Khartabil Safadi over a three year period from 2012–2015, while he was imprisoned by the Syrian government in Damascus.Bassel Khartabil Safadi is a Palestinian Syrian free software developer born in 1981. On March 15, 2012, Bassel was detained in the Mazzeh district of Damascus. Until October 2015, he was being held at Adra Prison in Damascus by the Syrian government. His current whereabouts are unknown. There were rumours that Bassel was sentenced to death, but the credibility of this information has not been confirmed.Bassel translated this book into English while serving time in Adra prison.The cover design was created and donated by Mr. Youssef Abdalki.
Kindle Edition
Published May 21, 2016
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September 9, 2019
In March 2012, Noura Ghazi Safadi’s fiancé, a software developer and activist, was detained by the Syrian government. He became one of more than 7,000 civilian political prisoners held at Adra Prison outside Damascus, where the couple later finalized their marriage despite his incarceration. Since then, Safadi, a human rights attorney, has worked and waited for her husband’s release.
Waiting is Safadi’s poetic memoir of her experience, part journal, part love letter to her husband. The twenty-six poems that make up the collection are arranged in chronological order spanning the couple’s history together, which in turn parallels the course of the Syrian revolution. Penned in the summer of 2011 shortly after their first meeting, the opening selection, “Discovery” is charged with the euphoria of early love. In “Moment” Safadi describes an overwhelming reunion following her husband’s transfer from an interrogation center to Adra, where he was at last able to receive visitors. “First Anniversary” laments the passage of time and hints at the double imprisonment inherent in the act of waiting. In a selection commemorating New Years 2015 the author expresses her renewed determination and resolve. Together, the selections form a deeply personal account of uncertainty, hope and longing.
Safadi’s verse is simple, loosely structured and digestible, with something of the quality of a torch song; impassioned yet non-specific, the language as ubiquitous as the experiences it describes. Her heartfelt outpouring is both personally courageous and enormously sympathetic.
Waiting is Safadi’s poetic memoir of her experience, part journal, part love letter to her husband. The twenty-six poems that make up the collection are arranged in chronological order spanning the couple’s history together, which in turn parallels the course of the Syrian revolution. Penned in the summer of 2011 shortly after their first meeting, the opening selection, “Discovery” is charged with the euphoria of early love. In “Moment” Safadi describes an overwhelming reunion following her husband’s transfer from an interrogation center to Adra, where he was at last able to receive visitors. “First Anniversary” laments the passage of time and hints at the double imprisonment inherent in the act of waiting. In a selection commemorating New Years 2015 the author expresses her renewed determination and resolve. Together, the selections form a deeply personal account of uncertainty, hope and longing.
Safadi’s verse is simple, loosely structured and digestible, with something of the quality of a torch song; impassioned yet non-specific, the language as ubiquitous as the experiences it describes. Her heartfelt outpouring is both personally courageous and enormously sympathetic.
Displaying 1 of 1 review