Morteza, a young physician, makes his escape from a country like Iraq, finds asylum in one like Australia. Each year, he travels to his native land to treat the victims of terrorist explosions. Meanwhile, his new country turns fearful, mean-spirited, eager to shut its doors. On the armature of this story Neil Creighton weaves a work at once epic and lyric. A gifted poet with something urgent to say possesses a powerful voice, especially when his indignation is disciplined and his imagination fired by empathy. Morteza offers memorable and vividly particular imagery; yet no reader will fail to feel its universality. Robert Wexelblatt, author of Hsi-wei Tales
This powerful collection follows the lives of three characters: Morteza, a surgeon and refugee; his wife Rosa; and Atefeh, an amputee Morteza helps when he returns to his country of origin. Morteza explores dark themes like greed, lust for power, tyranny, cruelty, and disregard for the value of human life, yet throughout this often heartrending journey, images of war contrast with a sense of cosmic oneness-the clear night sky rising above a toxic fog. And although empires crumble, for the three protagonists, it is Love that endures. As Atefeh says, What is there but doing good, / loving mercy and believing / that love can triumph and reign / in this small heart of mine. May it be so!
Penny Harter, author of Still-Water Days
For all refugees and victims of war is the dedication for this incredible story, a tale of the width and breadth of suffering that war causes. Fiction, yes, but also truth. And in the cloak of verse, this truth becomes a warning, a call for compassion, a plea for everyone to stop and consider our place in the process of wars and refugees and victims. Creighton invites me and you to walk along with him as Morteza, to learn to care. That is where we find the antidote to the ragged face of war. Powerfully written, painfully accurate, Morteza is worth more than a single reading.
James E Lewis, author of leave a light on
