The Bukhara Trilogy · Volume I
The opening volume of a sequence of 1,080 poems. Volume I charts the outer journey — arrival in a new world, the first shock of beauty, devotion, desire, longing, and the slow translation of direct experience into song. Written not about Central Asia but from within it, during three years living and teaching inside one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on the Silk Road.
Living and working inside Bukhara, Uzbekistan — and encouraged by Uzbek, Tajik, and Afghani colleagues to carry the classical Persian poetic inheritance into English — Hudenburg accumulated the 360 poems of this volume during his residency. It is the first documented English-language poetic trilogy generated from sustained residence inside Bukhara's contemporary conditions.
The book's formal inheritance draws from the compressed lyric of the ghazal, the directness of the rubai, the spare intelligence of the Classical Chinese imagists, and the devotional intensity of the Shashmaqam musical tradition — all recast in plain English through a voice shaped equally by Central Asian hospitality and American plainspokenness.
Twelve thematic sequences:
Designed to be experienced on the page and in sound. The musical architecture is not supplementary — it is a parallel work of equal standing.
Companion Sound
Each of the twelve Songs maps to one of the six classical maqams of Shashmaqam — Bukhara's own UNESCO-protected musical tradition. The maqams carry specific emotional and spiritual associations drawn from centuries of sacred performance, functioning as tonal architectures for consciousness: different frequencies for different states of being.
The primary instrument is the ney, the Persian reed flute and Rumi's central symbol — cut from the reed-bed, weeping for its origin, its weeping becoming music. The arrangement layers classical Shashmaqam, Sufi dhikr and sama practice, and contemporary trance production.
The grand mode — opening, ascent, the first shock of arrival.
The true and direct — devotion and the steadied heart.
Melody and longing — the cyclical return of desire.
Mystery and sacred ground — the contemplative night.
Memory and the desert — distance, dust, and recollection.
Transformation and eternity — separation resolving into song.
Now streaming. The companion album streams on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and more. Visit the album page for the links.
Love Songs from Bukhara is available now, and its companion album is streaming.