1. 1999: Mamadali Makhmudov by Rowena Forbes

    We are not free. This
    Distorted shattered mirror
    Does not reflect truth.

    Its shards shred my skin,
    My flesh torn by my brothers
    In freedom, enslaved.

    My body sickens,
    Riddled with rank corruption –
    For this, my words fought?

    Raped by rhetoric
    Eternal mountains haunt me
    Still, and still, I write.



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