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Uyghur Poems
An unprecedented collection of poems spanning the rich two-thousand-year cultural legacy of the Uyghur people of Central Asia. EVERYMAN’S LIBRARY POCKET POETS.
The Uyghurs have a long and glorious history of poetry, dating from the oral epics of the second century BCE through the elegant love poetry of the medieval period and up to the present moment—and much of it has never before been translated into English. Uyghur poetry reflects the magnificent natural landscapes at the heart of the Silk Road region, with its endless steppes, soaring mountain ranges, and vast deserts, as well as its turbulent history. Turkic, Sufi, and Persian influences have shaped the poetic tradition over the centuries, and more recently the modernism of the twentieth century left its mark as well.
In the face of the systematic persecution of the Uyghurs in China today, which has driven many of their poets into exile, Uyghur Poems is not only a remarkable one-volume tour of an ancient and vibrant poetic tradition but also a vital witness to a threatened culture.
Everyman's Library pursues the highest production standards, printing these pocket-sized volumes on acid-free paper, with full-cloth cases with two-color foil stamping, decorative endpapers, silk ribbon markers, European-style half-round spines, and an illustrated jacket.
The Uyghurs have a long and glorious history of poetry, dating from the oral epics of the second century BCE through the elegant love poetry of the medieval period and up to the present moment—and much of it has never before been translated into English. Uyghur poetry reflects the magnificent natural landscapes at the heart of the Silk Road region, with its endless steppes, soaring mountain ranges, and vast deserts, as well as its turbulent history. Turkic, Sufi, and Persian influences have shaped the poetic tradition over the centuries, and more recently the modernism of the twentieth century left its mark as well.
In the face of the systematic persecution of the Uyghurs in China today, which has driven many of their poets into exile, Uyghur Poems is not only a remarkable one-volume tour of an ancient and vibrant poetic tradition but also a vital witness to a threatened culture.
Everyman's Library pursues the highest production standards, printing these pocket-sized volumes on acid-free paper, with full-cloth cases with two-color foil stamping, decorative endpapers, silk ribbon markers, European-style half-round spines, and an illustrated jacket.
- GenresPoetry
272 pages, Hardcover
Published November 7, 2023
8 people are currently reading
112 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 15, 2024
Within the icy snow of dark winter
Stand Uyghur's houses
Martyrs are lying without burial cloths
They look like scattered pomegranate seeds.
The sky hides itself
Inside the shooting stars.
- The Vanished Sky by Sumeyye Hamdullah Ayturk translated by Aziz Isa Elkun
A lovely collection of poetry that contemplates on the past and present, the history and trauma, the contentment and fear. A bio tech scientist returns home from Tokyo for a visit and ends up getting jailed and then dying in death camp. This story repeats in the poetry written by mothers, fathers, aunts, relatives, brothers and loved ones. Heartbreaks the helplessness that surrounds the families. Their poetry are screams for the outside world to listen, react and have the government answer to the crimes against their community. So far there have been whimpers in response, not the gongs of justice.
If you don't know what "butthurt" means in an authoritarian context, here is an example:
The silence is swiftly deepending
Faster than the light
Shicked, I hold my tongue
I try not to mention the wild pigeon*
My notebook is erased in white
But my pen is louder than a bowstring...
- But a thorn was left in our tongues by Adil Tunyaz translated by Aziz Isa Elkun
* "The Wild Pigeon" a famous story by Nurmemet Yasin Orkishi, is an allegorical story of the son of a pigeon king who is trapped and caged by humans while on a mission to find a new home for his flock. The Chinese authorities considered this to be a criticism of their government and their "governance" in the Uyghur region, thus the author Nurmemet was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Yeah.
Men and women have refused to be silent in the times of persecution, imprisonment and death. They have written, smuggled their writing out and publishing it in the world. Those who have managed to escape this current day concentration camp, are advocating for their homeland and their people.
I leave you with this.
I want to break this iron cage
I want to break the world's silence
I want to fly
Free as a bird in the blue sky.
- Borders by Aziz Isa Elkun
June 21, 2025
4.75
I picked up this book at the bookstore because I was always attracted to Central Asian literature, and Uyghur history has always been quite fascinating to me. I think that the book is ultimately a great entry for those interested in Uyghur writing.
I liked that the book included both ancient and contemporary Uyghur poetry. I particularly liked the more ancient poetry, especially the ones which promoted education and Buddhism. Many of the poems, however, focused on love and were romantic poems. I don’t think these are generally my favorite but I think that this is more of a genre thing.
I thought that the poetry centered around the current Uyghur concentration camps was quite moving. I did not know that there was so much Uyghur writing about this topic and it is sad that it is not platformed more, especially with how much this issue is discussed here in America. I think that these perspectives are incredibly important to read from and I was delighted to be exposed to them.
As an anthology, however, I did have some issues with the way that the book was formatted. I absolutely hate anthologies that do not include dated poems. The poems were formatted out of chronological order, and just categorized into roughly ancient, contemporary, and modern, pieces. It was really confusing to place these poems in relation to each other, and it is also impossible to read each poem in context because the historical factors that shaped these authors are hidden behind the fact that the reader is not told when these poems were made. Similarly, I felt like the poetry could have been organized more so around key moments in Uyghur history, such as the Uyghur kingdom of the 7th century, the rule of the Khoja’s, the Qing occupation, etc.
Similarly, I thought that the book needed so many more footnotes. While certain Uyghur terms were explained with footnotes, none of the metaphors were. As a non-Uyghur person reading this poetry, I did not understand much of the cultural symbolism found in the texts, and it would have been nice for this to have been explained better.
Overall a good read though and I would recommend it to anyone interested in Uyghur writing.
I picked up this book at the bookstore because I was always attracted to Central Asian literature, and Uyghur history has always been quite fascinating to me. I think that the book is ultimately a great entry for those interested in Uyghur writing.
I liked that the book included both ancient and contemporary Uyghur poetry. I particularly liked the more ancient poetry, especially the ones which promoted education and Buddhism. Many of the poems, however, focused on love and were romantic poems. I don’t think these are generally my favorite but I think that this is more of a genre thing.
I thought that the poetry centered around the current Uyghur concentration camps was quite moving. I did not know that there was so much Uyghur writing about this topic and it is sad that it is not platformed more, especially with how much this issue is discussed here in America. I think that these perspectives are incredibly important to read from and I was delighted to be exposed to them.
As an anthology, however, I did have some issues with the way that the book was formatted. I absolutely hate anthologies that do not include dated poems. The poems were formatted out of chronological order, and just categorized into roughly ancient, contemporary, and modern, pieces. It was really confusing to place these poems in relation to each other, and it is also impossible to read each poem in context because the historical factors that shaped these authors are hidden behind the fact that the reader is not told when these poems were made. Similarly, I felt like the poetry could have been organized more so around key moments in Uyghur history, such as the Uyghur kingdom of the 7th century, the rule of the Khoja’s, the Qing occupation, etc.
Similarly, I thought that the book needed so many more footnotes. While certain Uyghur terms were explained with footnotes, none of the metaphors were. As a non-Uyghur person reading this poetry, I did not understand much of the cultural symbolism found in the texts, and it would have been nice for this to have been explained better.
Overall a good read though and I would recommend it to anyone interested in Uyghur writing.
February 24, 2024
When we lived in Shanghai, at the bottom of our apartment, building was a noodle shop, run by Uyghurs. They were so kind and giving to us always and then one morning they were all gone, vanished, as if nothing had been there in the first place. I was glad to have found this collection of poetry at the library, powerful voices.
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January 12, 2024Translations of Uyghur poems from the 10th century to now. Apparently I’m a basic girlie that’s really into contemporary poems
June 24, 2024
An excellent anthology of Uyghur poetry from the Classical period (BCE) to the Contemporary (2022). A must read
February 22, 2024
Beautiful and haunting. An anthology of love, longing, and great sorrow.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews