My Refugee Friends
By Xiaobei Zhao
Ukrainians who fled the sound of artillery. Syrian mothers nursing infants in foreign corridors. A man who escaped the Taliban and dances as if death had never brushed his neck. Written by a Chinese poet and bar owner living in Germany, these poems are acts of attention — refusing to reduce human beings to headlines, statistics, or refugee numbers.
From the Back Cover
This collection emerges from real encounters. An Iranian father who once built bridges and now pulls weeds, saving enough to keep his promises to his daughter. A woman who still carries dignity like a drawn bow, even after war has bent her world out of shape.
These are neither political slogans nor sentimental laments. They trace the textures of survival: a carefully pressed shirt after a day of cleaning work; a shared drink paid for with quiet pride; an empty swing moving in the wind of memory.
At the heart of the collection lies a simple, urgent conviction — that those who refuse to collapse in the ruins of their former lives deserve to be seen.
These poems do not speak for refugees. They sit with them. They listen. And in listening, they remind us that survival itself is a form of defiance.
About the Author
Xiaobei Zhao is a poet whose work attends to displacement, memory, endurance, and the fragile dignity of human lives under pressure.
Publication Details
Publisher: Bobcat Press
Publication date: March 6, 2026
Format: Paperback, 220 pages
ISBN-13: 979-8-9943925-8-4
Language: English
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