Shino Rasouli
When it comes to Kurdish literature, we cannot ignore Hemn because his writing is so fluent that even the deaf and dumb can understand him. One of the beauties of Hemn's writing is that he has taken people's words and given them back to them in a beautiful literary form.
Hemn's poems are in this category of literature that although they deal with a subject very simply and sweetly, there is a depth in the heart of his poems that attracts the reader and listener. Most people understand Hemn's writings and poems only about love, but on the contrary, he skillfully mixed love with patriotism.
His poems are about the pain and suffering of the Kurdish nation as much as they are about love. There is no poem that you can find that is all about love. Even in Empty Resort, his own story, behind the work, he unveils the misery of the Kurdish nation that the displacement of the Kurds prevents love from growing.
One of Hemn's poems, which is the peak of being unhappy with his nation, is the poem "Sweet Memory". The poem begins with a few verses that make the reader feel that he is in love with the eyes and face of a Kurdish girl, but it is not.
From the first verse, he is softly advising Kurdish girls and women not to underestimate themselves compared to women and girls of other nations of the world. In the opening verses of the poem, although he praises the beauty of Kurdish girls, he encourages Kurdish women to give up their beauty and self-conceit and think about their land and country.
In each of the verses, when Hemn talks about the beauty of a Kurdish girl, he quickly replies that if a Kurdish girl has that beauty, you must do that too. In other words, there is a message that awakens the Kurdish girl and says that your duty is something else than sitting and making up yourself.
In the middle of his poem, Hemn speaks very directly to Kurdish girls and women and uses harsh language. In a verse, he says:
"The day of luck of the Kurdish youth is under a black cloud,
until the face of the girl from the city disappears"
Hemn does not mean that if a girl from the city hides her face from a Kurdish boy, it will bring misfortune to him. It is the poetic illusion that Hemn used. Hemn's point is that if Kurdish girls do not want to join the revolution and struggle and do not come to the field of struggle alongside men, salvation becomes more difficult to achieve.
From right: Hazhar - Peshawa Qazi Mohammad - Hemn
In other verses, he attacks Kurdish society for its attitude towards women. In a verse, he questions how people who are oppressed can keep women, the source of life, confined to the home.
In this poem, he talks about the hijab that Kurdish women have been hindered by a veil invented by the occupier, which has led women to interpret themselves in the hijab.
In his poem, Hemn talks about the oppression of Kurdish men who unconsciously keep women at home and do not allow them to enter the field of life and show their strength and ability. In one verse, he even goes against Kurdish men who unknowingly deprive women of their right to live.
In all the verses of this poem, Hemn talks about the suffering of Kurds who do not allow Kurdish women to enter the field of science and life because of some actions and behaviors of men that they do unconsciously. In any poem where the poet uses the literary aesthetic of self-accusation, it means that the poet wants to awaken society. In self-accusation, although the poet attacks his society, he also talks about the beauties of society.
The poet uses self-blame when society is confused and no one considers himself responsible. Social and economic problems have engulfed society. Hopelessness has covered society. Self-accusation in poetry shows that the poet is a territorial person and wants to revive individuals by shaking his society.
In his poem Sweet Memory, Hemn describes the social problems of Kurdish society.