POETRY

Anthology of Protest Poetry (Summer 2009 Iran) will be available in Farsi soon, to be followed shortly with English/Italian/Spanish translations. This Project is a joint effort between Dr. Mahnaz Badihian (poet, educator and activist) and Azadeh Davachi (poet and tranlator). For any ideas, suggestions or questions please contact publisher@mahmag.org. Below is a poem from that Anthology titled 'Tango in Evin' by Azadeh Davachi, translated from Farsi by Mahnaz Badihian.

 
This music has a good beginning,
 
Bach's symphony or Beethoven,
 
Tango or Salsa
 
It doesn't matter
 
What matters are minutes without oscillation
 
Which pass through music
 
In voiceless cells, you must
 
Start with unpleasant moves
 
Even if you are unicellular, without a head
 
Who is weary of lengthy days
 
Or a brain with no warden
 
That smells like slogans
 
It is a good beginning
 
If your mouth didn't have a roof
 
And your jaw
 
Doesn't tire from movement with music
 
Guantanamo or Evin
 
They are only words
 
That pass through the
 
Incomplete understanding of geraniums
 
You must dance
 
Until the final act
 
When someone says 'Cut'
 
But you will not finish
 
With the last symphony
 
With pale bricks
 
You will dance the tango

 
* Evin is a notorious political prison in Tehran.