LIFE
به زبان فارسی
PICTORY
LATEST MUSIC
SEARCH
Leila and me
09-Jan-2008
We talk about the Shah here all the time but we never talk about Leila. I wrote a poem about Leila once. It was exactly three years ago, at the time when I went under. I went under because of a Persian Male--one of those with eyes of Eternity and kohl, who oozed Hafez from every pore in veiled dank misty rivers. You know the type, but at the time I didn’t, and so I fell in love. And he fell out and I went under. Into a very dark place. And when I came back, I’d written this poem. Or this poem had written me.
So walk with me if you will down this very dark road. I will navigate you ithrough it to its hidden light... Biya ta tariki barafshanim.
Leila Pahlavi died alone at night in Leonard Hotel near Marble Arch, in London in June, 2001. The cause of her death was given as a combination of pharmaceutical sleeping pills and other pharmaceutical and recreational drugs, along with anorexia nervosa. If you believe she was assassinated, you may not get much from this poem. In it, I went on Leila's journey to the other side, to Irkalla, the land the Sumerians and Babylonians called the Great Below. And we two, Leila and I, did not go alone. We went with the goddess Inanna.
In Sumero-Babylonian mythology, Inanna/Ishtar, Goddess of Love, makes this journey of her own free choice, to visit her dark sister, Ereshkigal, the Queen of the land of the dead. Inanna must undergo what all the dead must when they enter her sister’s realm. She must pass through seven gates, at each one further stripped of her garments and judged, Once naked. she must be slaughtered by her own sister and her carcass hanged from a peg. But she is rescued by her servant and two hermaphrodites, who embody the balance of the male and female. That is to say, resurrected.
This myth is a clear prefiguration of the Christian Crucifixion as well as the Greek Persephone and Orpheus myths. What is striking, however, is that the journey to the Great Below in this earlier version belongs exclusively to women. It is women’s own violence, grief and rage, which must be confronted and assimilated by themselves, and not projected onto men, if women are ever to be free. In this process lies their Power
I have said similar things about Iran.. No matter how severe the foreign interventions have been, Iran must own its own history. Only then can she be whole. Finally the female voices in this poem who speak violently against the Shah, the Eternal Father, have no political content whatsoever.
Leonard Hotel near Marble Arch
(Descent into Irkalla)
Open the leaves of morning’s door.
-Morning Prayer of Imam Ali
Princess Leila, Leila-joon
They have scattered all the stones
that you gathered for them faithfully.
And they’re gone now, all of them.
What a fine June night to take a walk.
To step into your sister’s arms who
waits for you at Marble Arch.
She’s been waiting far too long
Stumble to her in the dark
but soft my sweet insomniac.
Rest assured, but rest forearmed
This is no valentino runway.
And anyway, you’re far too thin.
It’s right that you refused their seeds.
This is no styx. There are no men
on chariots to pull you in.
(Nor shahbahnous to fetch you).
Still better take some nourishment
for if you do not come back up
good doctor iqbal’s r and x’s
will get all the credit.
Which only feeds the status quo
–-those coroners what do they know–
and this is no connecticut. Come,
take your sister’s medicine.
Now down the hatch we go.
Welcome to Irkalla dear.
Strange no man’s land.
Here are no salad days at brown
no birds no poems no peacock thrones
to dream you more of their irans.
But only sister’s loving hands.
You see how low she bows you, how deftly
she removes your crown. And
you thought they had done so. Let’s
undress the true wounds now.
Princess leila, leila-joon
You’re nothing but a bag of bones.
Strange strange karbala.
That was the first gate.
And seven times she’ll strip you blind
and seven you’ll be judged. Not by the ones
of books and stones
but by the searing pangs of a
kind of a driven labour of love.
Sink sleepwalker deep into her slumber
feeding succorless on placenta of grief you can
see how much she grieves,
she
grieves for her consort and
for all the endless dead, convulsive
uncontrollable venom of grief she
grieves because she’s angry, grieves because she’s jealous, because
you left her all alone here to rot in this hellhole maligned forgotten
misunderstood stuck in this godforsaken sewer pit this
stinking shithole of a great below while upstairs you rode alpha
romeos with all those lovers you could never love because you
chose to love only him spewing his megalomanias into the wind part
cyrus part che part errol flynn that party at persepolis boy that was rich
not to mention that ridiculous white revolution you
stupid anorectic bitch what the
hell’s gotten into you starving
yourself for the sake of your fucking father well
here are no fathers but only larvae so
don’t you dare to cry out for him missy when she
hangs you out from her peg to dry your
carcass a slab of maggot-ridden meat whose
flesh eats foetal into the bone it is
forbidden
to cry out
for him for them
we take care of
the forsaking here thank you
listen sleeping beauty
daddy’s little girl
we do the putrefying they
are not answerable we
are the clean-up crew we
are reliable this is
our golgotha our
sacred suicide this is
women’s work lily it is
between you and the
flies
and then in the original myth
the two hermaphrodites fashioned from the dirt beneath the ocean’s fingernails
with the help of the ever-faithful servant
waft inanna back up to the sky
and you Lady ship
would you too rise
as the sun soaked through your window from Oxford Street
and room service knocked on your door
if I only could have held you in my arms and told you so
as you lay prone in your posh hotel shorn of your cast-off robes how
distended into darkness deep in amniotic fluid sac of gall
the embryo is still born. Darling darling
do not fear the fear for her killing bed
is our wedding bed where her rage shall midwife
the chrysalis of foam, sole alembic from which we emerge
Whole, white goddess, parturient of mourning,
Imam, finally, of our own becoming.
would you take from me this silver tray
of breakfast tea and scones
had I only known you Leila
oh, had I only known
| Recently by Rosie T. | Comments | Date |
|---|---|---|
| guess who | 8 | Aug 19, 2008 |
| what is the color of love | 10 | Aug 17, 2008 |
| Our Generation (for nazy kaviani) | 3 | Aug 15, 2008 |
RECENT COMMENTS
IRANIANS OF THE DAY
| Person | About | Day |
|---|---|---|
| نسرین ستوده: زندانی روز | Dec 04 | |
| Saeed Malekpour: Prisoner of the day | Lawyer says death sentence suspended | Dec 03 |
| Majid Tavakoli: Prisoner of the day | Iterview with mother | Dec 02 |
| احسان نراقی: جامعه شناس و نویسنده ۱۳۰۵-۱۳۹۱ | Dec 02 | |
| Nasrin Sotoudeh: Prisoner of the day | 46 days on hunger strike | Dec 01 |
| Nasrin Sotoudeh: Graffiti | In Barcelona | Nov 30 |
| گوهر عشقی: مادر ستار بهشتی | Nov 30 | |
| Abdollah Momeni: Prisoner of the day | Activist denied leave and family visits for 1.5 years | Nov 30 |
| محمد کلالی: یکی از حمله کنندگان به سفارت ایران در برلین | Nov 29 | |
| Habibollah Golparipour: Prisoner of the day | Kurdish Activist on Death Row | Nov 28 |
FURTHER CLARIFICATION ON MY VIEWS ON MODERATION
by Rosie T. on Wed Jan 09, 2008 09:45 PM PSTJJ says that nothing is sacred except human life and freedom of speech.
I don't agree with him because I believe that EVERYTHING is sacred.
Nevertheless, putting myself into the shoes of that godless atheist ( :D ), I can see clearly that there are certain abuses of language which are so extreme that, although censoring them may sacrifice "freedom of speech", they are necessary because these abuses are flagrantly ANTI-LIFE.
Without life there can be no speech. LIFE comes first. I myself shall flag EXTREMELY offenisve posts and I encourage you readers to do the same.
I've already advised JJ not to delete entire posts, but simply the abusive language. So flag on.....flag on....don't worry, be happy... :o)...Do as your conscience dictates.
Zendeh baad Iraanrikaa. Marg bar marg.
Dear Jamshid
by David ET on Wed Jan 09, 2008 09:42 PM PSTNo , I am not a communist or socialist. Even Karl Marx said he was not a marxist.
I am not Morrissey either, nor am I all the names that Colonel called me.
What is this need to label one another instead of just reading and hearing what we each have to say?
But FYI: I believe in the smallest of governments because all governments including the so called government of proletariat turn to dictatorships. I believe we must not give our rights and controls to big governments of any kind. and no I am not a libertarian either.
I believe in a human being and his/her responsibilibity. I believe we each must assume a more direct role and responsibility for ourselves, our family, neighborhood, state , country and the world than assign it to others (governments) [or blame it on others] .
I also do not see people by what ...ist or religion they claim to be but for what they do , for their life and for others. They are simply those who love and care and there are those who don't...
and this article is not about me so pardon me if I may not reply to more questions about me, because I respect Rosie and her subject which is : Leila and HER :-)
Each tragedy deserves to be told
by Azarin Sadegh on Wed Jan 09, 2008 09:18 PM PSTThanks Rosie for your unique sense of humanity and for your true originality. You are going to be our muse, a true inspiration to all of us, the Iranians of Iranian.com. Dear Rosie, Thanks also for writing so beautifully about Leila's tragedy. Each tragedy deserves to be told. That's why there should be millions of books written about millions of tragic lives and deaths of Iranians, rich or poor, Monarchist or Islamist, leftist or rightist, Moslem or non-moslem. We are all the children of Iran and Iran wouldn't survive without all of its own children. Peace, Azarin
Kouroush,
by Rosie T. on Wed Jan 09, 2008 08:51 PM PSTKarl Jaspers, the Heidigger philospher and teacher of Hannah Arendt, the German-Jewish female philosopher who in the 1960's had the courage to decry the trial of Adolph Eichmann in Israel as a media circus, in which "evidence" was given against the accused which had NOTHING to do with his own deeds, wrote about "The Question of German Guilt." He established five categoires and only a VERY SMALL NUMBER OF PEOPLE were in the first category of the most guilty.
WE ARE HUMAN. WE ARE FRAIL. WE ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO SUGGESTION AND INFLUENCE.
Let it GO, let it FLOW. I swear to you, Kouroush, every single time you talk like this you tighten the noose around my neck. My name iis Atafeh. My name is Leila. My name is Qurat al-Aiyn. MY name is Iran Javid. And you're KILLING me...
Remove your hijab. Be the "comfort of my eyes."
Like balm in Gilead.
Seppas Jamshid..........:o)
by Nadias on Wed Jan 09, 2008 08:52 PM PSTVery kind of you to share your knowledge. I have jotted down your recommendations on "take care" and "be careful"
Glad to see your arrival on the thread.
solh va doosti
Nadia
IRI founders and supporters will be hunted down
by Kouroush Sassanian on Wed Jan 09, 2008 08:41 PM PSTand brought to justice! The Israelis still bring to justice Nazis who participated in the murder of the jews. These mullahs think they are sitting pretty, but we know nothing is forever. Their day shall come and I will be there striking at their hearts, I will be there watching, waiting to see the fear in their eyes.
You don't reconcile with Evil - you destory it. You don't make deals with the Devil!
Rosie and Nadia keep talking about peace, and forgiveness! The Mullahs don't want to be forgiven or to reconcile.
Innocent
by Face it (not verified) on Wed Jan 09, 2008 08:29 PM PSTLeila was an innocent child of iran who longed for her country. She had committed no crime whatsoever, and deserves no blame. We should never be happy of misery of any child, no matter who he/she relates to.
To Anonymous 2, re chuckling
by Rosie T. on Wed Jan 09, 2008 08:25 PM PSTChuckling is good.
"Since feeling is first
he who caresabout the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you....
so laugh, leaning back in my arms,
For life's not a paragraph
(and death I think is no parenthesis) "
ee cummings
To Jamshid
by Haeidelberg Soldier (not verified) on Wed Jan 09, 2008 08:16 PM PSTIt is none of your *** business if David is "leftist" or not. You *** just move around to find a weak point in someone and hammer them with your dirty mouth. Why don't you write something positive for a change. You just loaf around...you see what I mean? You always start with a simple question and then come back with three feet long *** to bash them. Go find a job, there are some jobs out there.
I didn't know Rosie was blood relatives with Leila,
by Anonymous^2 (not verified) on Wed Jan 09, 2008 08:06 PM PSTJamshid I chuckle that you can can slap someone else about how to "let others be"!
PS. good job on the post, Rosie T.
Re: Rosie
by jamshid on Wed Jan 09, 2008 07:55 PM PSTVery beautiful poem. I enjoyed reading it.
To David ET: Is it true that you are a leftist? I ask because several people stated this and you did not refute it. Regarding Leila, one could use your logic and turn the table and ask you why should you have been more important to your parents than thousands of perhaps very much deserving children suffering across our country? Don't you agree that many of them deserved more than you and I will ever do? The answer is that because you were special for your parents. Why were you special? Because you were more deserving than all other children? NO! Because you were their "blood". Yes, their blood. So being someone's blood may have some meaning to others in many different ways. It doesn't have to have meaning for you, but you should let others be.
Goodbye England's Rose!
by Cheezaki on Wed Jan 09, 2008 07:54 PM PST//youtube.com/watch?v=C1Pu8hET2yo
CLARIFICATION OF MY POSITION ON MODERATION
by Rosie T. on Wed Jan 09, 2008 07:41 PM PSTI am sorry. I wasn't clear enough. What I want on this thread is the same as on my last one. I don't want individual moderates to delete things. I want this to be a safe zone. Many of you are in a lot of pain and you should feel free to get it all out your system here. At the same time, I encourage anyone who wishes to, to flag posts which they deem extremely offenisve. If jj agrees with you, he'll delete them. JJ's and my standards for what constitutes "offensive" is more liberal than some of the moderators. And I really think that is better on this thread. I certainly didn't mean to discourage anyone from their right to flag posts.
I''ll write more about this later and I will also respond to other posts. For now I hope I've clarified my position vis a vis moderation.
Flag on!
"Slay me with flagons, comfort me with apples, for I am sick with love."
--The Song of Songs, attributed to King Solomon
Nadia
by jamshid on Wed Jan 09, 2008 07:30 PM PSTthe other poster was right about the word "solh". However a combination would be better, as in "solh va doosti".
Also, I think "movazebeh khodet bash" sounds better than "moraghebeh khodet bash". The first is used as in "take care", the second, as in "be careful".
Vow....
by KavehP (not verified) on Wed Jan 09, 2008 07:11 PM PSTI am pleasantly surprised with the level of relative civility and tolerance on this thread.
I have dared to dip my toe in, because Rosie has spoken of dialogue.
Rosie, I read your stuff all the time and think you write beautifully. I am also " non-Zionist. anti-colonialist, pacifist, left-leaning and hopeful".
But
I also support a constitutional monarchy for Iran, and don't think that this negates my other beliefs.
so how do you want to square up to this "Shaahi", in the political realm? Is my politics really horrendous? May be I have given up my totalitarian ways?
I think you see were I might be going with this.
In the spirit of doosti, I bow to your obvious intellect, and ask you if I really do need to be guided to a new dawn?
I have studied and worked hard. I have lost loved ones. I have hated seeing what has been happening to Iran. Its neither a remarkable nor a tragic story. Its a snapshot of millions of Iranians.
I Was 12 years old when the revolution happened. Life has not been easy during the last 29 yrs. My dad was not rich nor had any positions in the last regime. but we lived a good life, with security and hope. what have I done to be labeled?
I think you are a great writer and look forward to reading many more of your writings which always educates.
God bless
to iranian.com mederators
by David ET on Wed Jan 09, 2008 06:52 PM PSTTo All of You from the Band / PS David
by Rosie T. on Wed Jan 09, 2008 06:10 PM PSTTeach Your Children
(Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young)
//youtube.com/watch?v=g7EgsNfzsy4
//youtube.com/watch?v=p6pphVs8bF0
You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because THE PAST IS JUST A GOODBYE.
Teach your children well,
Their father's hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams T
he one they picked, the one you'll know by.
Don't you ever ask them why,
if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh
AND KNOW THEY LOVE YOU.
And you, of tender years,
Can't know the fears that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth,
THEY SEEK THE TRUTH BEFORE THEY CAN DIE.
Can you hear and do you care a
nd CAN'T YOU SEE WE MUST BE FREE
to Teach your children what you believe in.
Make a world that we can live in.
Teach your parents well,
Their children's hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.
Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry, S
So just look at them and sigh
and KNOW THEY LOVE YOU.
--
We all know the future of humanity is hanging by a thread. Let this be the thread from which it hangs and treat it accordingly. That is all I ask of you,
PAZ. PAZIR.
PS David, voce fala perfeitamente espanhol.
Dear VY,
by Rosie T. on Wed Jan 09, 2008 04:14 PM PSTMifahmam. Khubeh! :D
Zendeh baad, Ahura Mqzdaa. Lord of the Light of Knowledge!
And PS...theMorrisey rocks!
To Rosie
by V. Yazdanmehr (not verified) on Wed Jan 09, 2008 04:04 PM PSTRosie, I forgot...
My apologies as well for the past encounter...
I'm not even a religious person...but as a Zoroastrian, we have been called so many things for the past 1400 years that we have become sensitive to comments about the religion....
BTW, Morrissey is great!!!!
Infelizmente eu não falo espanhol
by David ET on Wed Jan 09, 2008 03:57 PM PSTTO ALL MODERATORS
by Rosie T. on Wed Jan 09, 2008 03:56 PM PSTPLEASE NO DELETIONS ON MY THREAD. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR WORK. YOU'RE WONDERFUL.
Colonel, I know EXACTLY / David..
by Rosie T. on Wed Jan 09, 2008 03:17 PM PSTwhat you're all about. Why the fucking hell would I stay here if I didn't?
You HAVE to forgive each other. You HAVE to move forward.
THERE IS NO OTHER CHOICE.
---
David: Shoplifters of the world, unite and take over! Hand it over, hand it over! :D
--Fan of Fanaa
What I am all about!!
by Colonel Hemayat (not verified) on Wed Jan 09, 2008 03:11 PM PSTI am bitter and I am angry, maybe just maybe ROSIE is right, maybe if we all let go of the past, look into the future, JUST A MAYBE!!!
if NOT, then we have to deal with all of the American Bullshit , Rosie tries to feed us, don't get me wrong she is pure and has the best intentions but I (( It is only me, I may be too bitter)) don't think she knows what we are all about, It has been bitter girl, too bitter for a few to to COMPROMSIE!!!!
Khoda-Shah-Mihan
Only if you want me to :-)
by David ET on Wed Jan 09, 2008 03:01 PM PST//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITN95xHRBn8&feature=related
It is so sad.........:'o(
by Nadias on Wed Jan 09, 2008 02:57 PM PSTWhen will it be enough Iranian blood spilled for them to be satisfied? How many more families have to loose love ones to provide enough blood shed for people.
As long as people do not get beyond the pain, anger and resentment, Iran will not be completely free. I know it is painful to loose a loved one. Many have lost family members but we choose to let go of the hate and pain. We choose to honor their memory by doing something worthwhile in their name.
Kouroush, I am sorry for your loss but there must be a better way to honor your loved ones. Your loved ones would not want for you to hold on to the pain. They would want you to live completely and happy. It is the best way to honor them.
solh doosti
Nadia
KS:
by Rosie T. on Wed Jan 09, 2008 02:57 PM PSTKhaaneh siaah ast.
Khaaneh sefid aast.
Kamoosh. Sokout.
Como me haces hablar en silencio. (How you make me speak in silence...).
You choose.
Morrisey
by Rosie T. on Wed Jan 09, 2008 02:48 PM PST"At At last I am Born"--Morrisey
Historians note I am finally born...
I once thought that time accentuates despair ...
But now I don't actually care
Because I am born, born, born
Look at me now...
From difficult child to spectral hand,,,
am born At last I am born///
I once thought I had numerous reasons to cry...
And I did, but I don't anymore Because I am born, born, born At last I am born At last I am born It took me a long, long time But now I am born,,,
I once was a mess of guilt because of the flesh...
It's remarkable what you can learn Once you are born, born, born Born, born, born Born, born, born
Which one shall it be genlemen? You choose. Choose now. For Atafeh, for Leila, they are one and the same.
Stillborn....
or
still born?
REMOVE YOUR HIJAB. ALL YOUR HIJABS. STAND UP IRAN AND DANCE!
Tavalode digar--FF..freedom fighter, frequentl flyer, femme fatale, frightened foetus...
which one? You choose.
V. Yazdanmehr......I did not mean you :o)
by Nadias on Wed Jan 09, 2008 02:41 PM PSTWhen I spoke of conflict, I was not meaning you rather explaining why I selected solh to begin with.
It was my attempt at keeping it simple.
In the past I have gotten into trouble because I tend to use informal Persian words like "man khubam" next thing you know someone thinks I am flirting. I am just a nice person that is all but many see this as flirting. I don't know formal Persian words. My Iranian friends only teach me nonformal Persian. My friends are also young so they teach me Persian words with Arabic roots in them.
On this website we only have words to express ourselves and it can so easily be misunderstood. We cannot hear the person's tone of voice, nor see their facial expressions when speaking said words.
We simply do the best we can in this world. :o)
solh doosti
Nadia
"no more blood"
by David ET on Wed Jan 09, 2008 02:40 PM PST" An eye for an eye, and soon the whole world is blind."
Mahatma Gandhi
David ET: Are You Morrissey?!!!
by V. Yazdanmehr (not verified) on Wed Jan 09, 2008 02:38 PM PSTDavid ET,
looking at your profile photo, it looks like you are really Morrissey, the 80's "new wave" artist. Are you really him?!!! If so, welcome to Iranian.com!!!!
//i21.photobucket.com/albums/b262/Tabbytabbs/...
blog.ugo.com/images/uploads/MorrisseyOnGrass.jpg
www.dueysdrawings.com/drawings/morrissey.jpg
//bp1.blogger.com/_tRg73iZIquM/RvG5Lnb8lXI/AA...
Sorry Rosie, I know this is unrelated, but I couldn't resist!! And David, same to you, it's all in good fun!