An Exile's Sense of Place: Three Poems by Nader Naderpur

Extract

Crucial to an exile's perception of his or her identity is a sense of place and the exile's relationship with it. This has been one of the most productive sources of imagery that has shaped by Nader Naderpur's poetry since he left Iran in 1981. In much of his poetry of exile, strong emotions stand out: rage at the powers in Iran that caused him to go into exile, grief at what happened to his country as well as to himself, half-acknowledged acceptance of exile, tinged with nostalgia. The feelings aroused by increasing age and the pain of seemingly endless separation from Iran combine to make him contemplate an obscure future in a land without sun. Running through all these poems is the poet's sense of place. As exile, Naderpur inhabits two places at once: an inner, remembered place, now evoked in ever-more nostalgic images, and an outer, physical place where he dwells and passes his days.