Mohamed Hassan, National Anthem

National Anthem by Mohamed Hassan
Auckland: Dead Bird Books Publishers (2020)
RRP: $35, Pb, 68pp
ISBN: 978-0-473-54143-9
Reviewed by Piet Nieuwland

This is Mohamed Hassan’s second book of poetry in which he reflects on some of the major events of his life with a diverse range of pointed and telling twists of perception. We get to know Mohamed very much better and gain a deeper understanding of the experiences that background his public persona as a journalist.

He begins by acknowledging his grandmother, Khairiah Khalil, and her philosophy: that we should be thankful for our presence on this earth, that it is borrowed and owed. The book is divided into four sections, each with a similar gravitas.

The first, themed around migration, considers the poet’s departure from his homeland Egypt to Turkey, USA and New Zealand. In ‘John Lennon’ (p.14) he writes:

it shouldn’t hurt this much
to love a country that does
not love you back

 And then there are the difficulties of maintaining long distance relationships, as in ‘And before that we were stars’ (p.18):

have you ever tried to fold
your heart into an envelope?

‘Office Christmas party’ (p. 21) is easy to relate to if you’ve ever felt out of place in a similar situation.

Part II focuses on racism. There are some poignant lines. Characteristic is ‘Racist is not a slur’ (p. 29) where immigrants are

…told to shut up
and have some respect

and are reminded:

did you not smile
and wave
at the citizenship ceremony
and promise to be good
and grateful
and quiet

In ’It’s been 48 hours since I last saw a white person’ (p. 35), Hassan demonstrates his feeling of not belonging anywhere from a very early age with its stinging line:

 go back to where we colonized you.

The third section describes different feelings and responses to grief. These include the personal experience of loss of a loved one and loss of a country, as well as reporting on other people’s losses including houses, lives and livelihoods. In ‘Grief is an expensive habit’ (p. 46), Hassan shows how difficult the process of grief is, especially when you are removed from you own familiar surroundings in the first place.

The final section is about long-standing and uncomfortable issues on a broader scale, and includes more recent traumatic events in New Zealand. ‘Aotearoa Inc.’ (p. 58) jabs at some of the delusions and illusions of the beautiful country.

no one has ever been
this authentically proud

It is in this last section of the book that we arrive at the title poem, ‘National Anthem’(p. 62), which shows Hassan to be a man of the earth, the whole planet, of a new generation for whom nationalism, flags, borders and fairy-tale histories are not important. Instead, he sets out a new challenge, one that looks beyond the traditional boundaries of nation-states. He writes:

I pledge my honeycomb tongue
to the five stages of peace
anger
resilience
open palms
history
and new beginnings

And to join those with whom he would allow

…to drown me in unconditional trust…

These are poems to be enjoyed for their music and relevance. But more importantly they are opportunities for readers to reconsider their own individual and collective preconceptions and assumptions about people’s backgrounds, appearance and language. They ask: how open are you to the humanity, diversity and difference of others? The occasional short piece of Arabic script in the margin invites understanding.