For centuries poetry has served as both an expression of, and vehicle for, dissent in Iran. This collection of poems begins with a ghazal of the great Hafiz, written in the 14th century, and concludes with a poem written by Simin Behbahani in the wake of the 2009 election violence in the Islamic Republic. It includes poems, in Persian and English, by Iran’s major poets of the 20th century: Muhammad Taqi-Bahar, Nima Yushij, Mehdi Akhavan-Saales, Forough Farrokhzad, and Ahmad Shamlou. The succinct but comprehensive Introduction places the poets, and their poems, in their historical context.
All proceeds from the sale of this book go to support the work of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center in New Haven, CT. www.iranhrdc.org.
The English translations were originally published by the literary journals Poetry International and Little Star.
