From Uyghur Poems published by Everyman’s Library, edited by Aziz Isa Elkun, translated by Aziz Isa Elkun and others.

Colonial power China (now 2026) has occupied the independent country Uyghuristan since 1949, with help of the Russian army. 2 million Uyghurs are behind bars in concentration camps, forced into becoming “Chinese”, forced into labour, forced to deny their Abrahamic religion, Islam. Women and young girls sa-ed by the prison guards.

Uyghur poetry lives.

Hazy (gungga) poetry by Ekhmetjan Osman:

Drum Dance

The wind of revelation casts God to the dirt
when the call to prayer sounds in the body mosque

Clay Oven

The wine chased out of the city blooms in gold –
it is the mind we have forgotten.