Born in 1952 in Badakhashan province a region bordering presentday Tajikistan, Partaw Naderi is widely regarded as one of the foremost modernist posts of Afghanistan. Like many of his educated, Farsi/Dari – speaking compatriots, he is steeped in classical Persian literature and the depth of this knowledge has had a marked impact on his poetry, notably his mastery of free verse, which remains comparatively unusual in contemporary Afghan poetry .Partaw has argued  that it is this familiarity with classical poetry and his meters’ that has allowed him to risk writing free verse; and his metrical control, and the music of his poetry, is both daring and highly effective . . . I hope that this small sample of Partaw’s poems will reveal the precision and power of his imagery, and the clarity and startling colours of his prismatic poems. (Sarah Maguire).