{"id":13255,"date":"2026-08-28T15:44:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T14:44:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=13255"},"modified":"2026-08-28T16:52:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T15:52:02","slug":"the-handover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=13255","title":{"rendered":"The Handover"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
Image: \u00a9 Charles Eastwood<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

i.m. Fada Mohammad<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Years ago, on a long-haul to Singapore,<\/p>\n

Kabul appeared on the seat-back locator map<\/p>\n

tracking our flight path: below us was a place<\/p>\n

where war never dies, but at 12,000 meters<\/p>\n

the window held only the pale brown creases and folds<\/p>\n

of The Hindu Kush.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Geography and luck.<\/p>\n

And now your name travels ahead of you, Fada,<\/p>\n

as I read in the online Anchorage Daily News<\/p>\n

about the cherry trees in your family\u2019s backyard;<\/p>\n

how you, the eldest, studied<\/p>\n

to become a dentist: a clinic in Shaheed Square<\/p>\n

where your father thought you had gone,<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 not knowing<\/p>\n

you\u2019d been diverted, drawn<\/p>\n

into the wake of another rapidly departing<\/p>\n

empire \/administration \/ boots on the ground<\/p>\n

of a country too easily considered bootless;<\/p>\n

that your image would be caught,<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 shrunk<\/p>\n

to a wobbly full stop on an upheld phone:<\/p>\n

a momentary passenger, swept<\/p>\n

from a climbing cargo plane,<\/p>\n

hands sliding off what they almost held:<\/p>\n

the body of the thing, its living armour.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

____<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mark Granier poems have appeared in various outlets, including The New Statesman, Poetry Ireland Review, Poetry Review (UK), The Friday Poem, Anthropocene and Magma. His sixth collection, Everything You Always Wanted To Know, was published by Salmon in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image: \u00a9 Charles Eastwood   i.m. Fada Mohammad \u00a0 Years ago, on a long-haul to Singapore, Kabul appeared on the seat-back locator map tracking our flight path: below us was a place where war never dies, but at 12,000 meters the window held only the pale brown creases and folds of The Hindu Kush. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[376,441,443],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Handover - The Manchester Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=13255\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Handover - The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Image: \u00a9 Charles Eastwood   i.m. Fada Mohammad \u00a0 Years ago, on a long-haul to Singapore, Kabul appeared on the seat-back locator map tracking our flight path: below us was a place where war never dies, but at 12,000 meters the window held only the pale brown creases and folds of The Hindu Kush. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=13255\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-28T14:44:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-28T15:52:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Screenshot-2026-08-28-at-14.38.24.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Granier\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Granier\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=13255\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=13255\",\"name\":\"The Handover - The Manchester Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-28T14:44:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-28T15:52:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/399afd003eaf65b74c6c91991011a959\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=13255#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=13255\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=13255#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Handover\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"description\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/399afd003eaf65b74c6c91991011a959\",\"name\":\"Mark Granier\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"caption\":\"Mark Granier\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?author=427\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Handover - The Manchester Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=13255","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Handover - The Manchester Review","og_description":"Image: \u00a9 Charles Eastwood   i.m. 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