Published in Overland Issue 217 Summer 2014 · Uncategorized In Memoriam Hashem Shaabani Martin Kovan (Ahwazi Arab poet executed by the Iranian regime, 27 January 2014) We searched you in the hollows And we searched you in the fen We took you down for mercy And we took you down again We heard you’d gone a-roaming And taken up your pen We heard you used the Holy Name And took that Name in vain We saw you in the papers And we heard you in the den We knew you’d gone a-roaming By the treason of your pen We thought we’d show you mercy And let you live again We thought we’d offer clemency If you’d just put down the pen You raised it high against us Stabbed us dead and dead again With your prophecies of freedom That take the Holy Name in vain. We searched you in the hollows And we searched you in the fen We took you down for mercy And we took you down again We found you in the hollows And we found you in the fen And we took you down for mercy So you’ll never rise again. Martin Kovan Martin Kovan is an Australian writer of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. His short and long-form essays, articles, fiction, poetry, and interviews, have been regularly published in Australia, and in the US, UK, France, Hong Kong, India, and Czech Republic. His philosophical monograph A Buddhist Theory of Killing: a philosophical exposition was published by Springer in 2022. More by Martin Kovan › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 4 October 20246 October 2024 · Main Posts Announcing the Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers 2024 longlist Editorial Team Sponsored by Trinity College at the University of Melbourne and supporters, the Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers, established in 2014 and now in its ninth year, recognises the talent of young Indigenous writers across Australia. 27 September 20244 October 2024 · Poetry Because a wind blazes Dženana Vucic Because after autumn there are / other autumns, / we learn to eat the wind. / This is what we shall do / with all our anger.