February 12, 2025
Ali
The Kenyon Review · “Ali” by Mahta Riazi Ey Ali, ey Ali-ye divooneh.The poem comes down to a hideous question:Did Ali throw himself in the water? Or was he pulled?Was […]
February 12, 2025
The Wind Will Carry Us
The Kenyon Review · “The Wind Will Carry Us” by Nader Nazmi In my small night a pitythe wind is comingfor the leaves on trees.Terror of destruction nestsin my small […]
February 12, 2025
from From Nima On: A Selection of Contemporary Iranian Poetry
1. In my blank verse poems, I conceive of meter and rhyme differently. When I lengthen or shorten various lines, it’s not based on whim or fancy. Even in the […]
February 12, 2025
Melancholia #6
Night, at a gallop of the dark horsea line of trees remains.In the four galaxies of the horseshoe,a line of trees was passing without a neigh.A severed vein opened its […]
February 12, 2025
Melancholia #5
For in the heavens,the binding of my travel journal.I sowed with the sun,in the limbless alleys, in the doorways empty of women,I was scorched by the sun.It’s hard to picture […]
February 12, 2025
Carnal
Appeaser of the body, restless ruler,the answer to all forms of anxiety!When the motion of an instinct gave birth to meand forces of the wind wrote my nameon the green […]
February 12, 2025
I Dream of a White House
For Forough Farrokhzad and my fatherIn my dream, her camera follows me through a house that is black.The hallway is narrow and long; the walls refuse to speakeven when I […]
February 12, 2025
Old as the Bible
Inspired by Forough Farrokhzad’s “The House Is Black”Once we lived in a black house,the blackness known only to usand not the people around us. Despitethe light inside the house, we […]
February 12, 2025
A School of Fish Disturbed
The Kenyon Review · “A School of Fish Disturbed” by Torsa Ghosal Men with tender, chewy faces passed for boys to bodyboard young girls during the high season, but that […]
February 12, 2025
Window
A conversation with my mother’s translation of “ Window” by Forough FarrokhzadThe prophets brought the prophecy of moonlightin the mirror refractingrefracting throughsanctions imposed on my skullDistortion — constant explosions and poisonous cloudsthe echo […]
February 12, 2025
Other Than Black
The Kenyon Review · “Other Than Black” by Shahilla Shariff This is the light: black.I can’t see God’s face but I can hearthe sea drag her despair—I live there.There is […]
February 12, 2025
The Ring
In a sweet smile, the young girl said:“What is the mystery of this golden ring?The mystery of this ringthat so firmly grasps my finger.”The mystery of this ringin its radiant […]