Biography;
AZAM ABIDOV (A’ZAM OBID) is an Uzbek poet, translator, short story writer, cultural adviser, and world traveler born in 1974, in Namangan – the “city of flowers” – in Uzbekistan. Trained in philology, he is the author of several books of poetry and translation, including My Name Is Uzbekistan, Tunes of Asia, The Island of Anxiety, Dream of Lightsome Dawns, A Miracle Is On the Way, and I Leave You in Complete Boredom. He writes in both Uzbek and Engflish.
He has translated selected ghazals and the epic poems Farhod and Shirin and Layli and Majnun by Alisher Navoi into English, as well as novels and short stories by prominent Uzbek writers such as Erkin A’zam, Evril Turon, and Salomat Vafo. His own poetry has been translated into more than thirty languages and published internationally.
Abidov was a Creative Writing Fellow at the University of Iowa in the United States in 2004, and later a writer-in-residence in Berlin (2017) and Hong Kong (2024). He has participated in poetry festivals, literary residencies, workshops, and cultural forums in more than twenty countries.
Together with Uzbek poet Bahrom Ruzimuhamed, he co-edited the international poetry anthologies Fish and Snake and The Language of the Birds, bringing together hundreds of contemporary poets from around the world. He is currently the Uzbekistan coordinator for the international network Poets of the Planet (POP) and serves as the Country Representative of the International Delphic Council in Uzbekistan. He is also one of the founders of the Maysara literary and cultural club at the Yudakov and Oybek House-Museums in Tashkent.
In 2018, Abidov launched Uzbekistan’s first independent international Writer/Artist
Residency Program for foreign authors and artists.
Every Human is a Believer
Every human
is a believer in this world
Someone believes God exists
and there is love
that keeps you alive
Someone believes
it is not true
Someone believes
God has nothing to do
with war or hatred
Someone believes
God is to blame
For not making peace all over
Everyone is a believer
Belief is the most
vulnerable word of all times.
###
There is a Bird
Whispers claim I am a bird,
A creature amid all seasons.
Yet self-comprehension, absurd,
Longs for wings, fleeing life’s reasons.
But hold back those flattering tones,
Don’t orchestrate grand eulogies.
There’s a bird, once freely flown,
Returns, obedient to the cage’s decrees.
Never compare me to that bird!
###
The Door Echoes…
The door echoes, a gentle tap,
Creeps through the open window –
the mist of a terrible past,
The motherland gleams
beneath the burst of fireworks.
A captive – I stand, and you’re the next!
If truth is your guide, express it boldly!
Ease your mother’s worry, your kin’s concerns,
Let your winter yield to a tender spring,
Beat the drums of justice; let their echoes resound.
No need for hearts to quiver at the door’s gentle knock,
Stride ahead, and wear a serene smile!
There is no room for sorrow, only light!
On the threshold of the motherland’s freedom,
I search for you: the whole person.
(This poem is translated by my friend Muhtor Adashev)
###
Like a Persimmon
Life has become
like a persimmon:
Hard and in the color of fire
I watch
Shrouded little girls and boys
Scattered like the beads
Violence and Jealousy
Are eternal residents
On earth
I have died
A thousand times
Here
A million bloody times
A dead man I am.
My ghost is
In the bomb-ruined Love Land –
The Limbo.
Life has become like a persimmon…
###
Prayer to Dictator
It’s not like joining the Book Lab
Their union is unique:
The Dictators’ Club
You can’t join this trick:
Their circle is thick
Their families are big
The only thing
you can join is when
The ignorant nations
Offer them prayers:
“Long live the dictator!”
It’s obvious —
The prayers will never reach
Their destinies.
A prayer without a destination.