Barely a year later, Yasser wrote his first poem, “Traces,” about his experiences on the run. "I suppressed some of the things that happened on the way. They only come up again now through writing, and that’s a form of closure," he said in an interview with ZDF tivi in 2017. "Someone who grew up in security and prosperity can't understand that. But if you explain it, for example in a poem, people might think about what would happen if they were to suffer the same fate: war, desolation, or hopelessness. Then they can relate to it and understand it better."

In Iran, as in Afghanistan, poetry plays an important role, as project founder and SPIEGEL foreign correspondent Susanne Koelbl has repeatedly observed on her journalistic travels. Feelings and stories are preserved in verses and are recited in everyday situations—whether at dinner, during a taxi ride, or while shopping. The Poetry Project is built on this narrative tradition, which thrives on a special linguistic density and emotional depth. Things that at first may seem unspeakable are thus transformed into an artful dialogue; conversely, understanding is fostered for what initially appears “foreign.”

Why in a Poem?

Yasser Niksada was 13 years old when he came to Germany. He’s originally from the Panjshir Valley in Afghanistan, but his family fled from the Taliban to Tehran when he was still a small child. His parents saw no prospects for the young Yasser in Iran and sent him to Europe on his own.