Arts and Literature

The Flower Shop

At the beginning, they were like anybody else. They were wrestling with the notion of what a man and a woman together are supposed to be, and their respective notions were wrestling with each other, knowing that the best they could hope for was a light and gentle wrestling, which it was. You couldn't run from those notions, and you couldn't spend all your effort on trying to knock them down either. They went back to when you were a boy and a girl, and you might knock down that boy and girl in the process>>>

My personal green movement!

I got an email from a fella Twitter/Facebook warrior the other day, announcing that he had posted his “personal anti IRI demonstration” video on YouTube. Turns out that he and a few of his cyber vigilante friends held demonstrations in the basement of his house in Los Angles which included shouting anti IRI slogans and dancing to a pro green movement rap music followed by burning Khamanie’s posters (faces were blurred for fear of reprisal). As I was watching this so-called private demonstration, I wondered how my fellow Iranians inside Iran feel about this>>>

هیولای بمب اتم

تو دانی چه آمد سر شورَوی؟
که اصرار میکرد بر کجروی

چو تاریخ و وقت مقرّر رسید
نظامش ز گیتی یهو وَر پرید >>>

Leili and Kaveh

Last November some Iranian.com writers began a collaborative project to write an experimental story. The premise was that someone would write the first paragraph of a story and then the next writer had to add his or her part and so on until the last person who had to write the ending. Order of the writers was determined randomly, except for the first writer. We had a lot of fun working together, but when it was finished we had to hold on to the story for a while in view of the sad events in Iran. We would like to share the finished story with you at this time in the hopes that you might enjoy reading it as much as we did writing it>>>

حرامزاده

چشمهایش را به نرمی گشود و با نازی که ویژگی همه نازپروردگان بود از خواب بیدار شد. هنوز هوا تاریک بود. مطابق معمول برنامه روزانه اش پیش از هر کار به حمام رفت و دوش گرفت. آنگاه سجاده سبز رنگش را روی زمین پهن کرد، چادری سپید رنگ بر سر کرد و مشغول نماز خواندن شد. دعاهای رنگارنگ همیشه پایان نمازش را شکل می دادند. پس از نماز برخواست و سجاده و چادر را گوشه ای گذاشت و پنجره اتاقش را گشود>>>

افتادن

امروز افتادم
تا باز امروز
از افتادن حرف بزنم:  
از این لحظه بی ادعا
ساده، وقتی که خدا
زیر پای آدم را خالی کرد >>>

جنگ جنگ تا پیروزی

"جنگ پدر همه چیز است!" یکی‌ از فلاسفه یونانی گفته یعنی‌، تقریبا تمام پیشرفتها صنعتی، ابداعات و اختراعات بشر به جنگ بر میگردد. شخصاً معتقدم که، بشر هم موجود خبیثی است! شش ماه قبل از حمله گسترده صدام، ایران عملا با عراق در حال مخاصمه بود. مذهبی‌‌ها شورش و انقلابی مشابه را در بغداد با حمایت خمینی برنامه ریزی کرده بودند، که لو رفت و گروه امام موسی صدر تار و مار شدند. دوباره یک مشت ایرانی‌ تبار را از عراق اخراج کردند و به لحاظ اون، عملیات توپخانه‌ای بین دو طرف بطور پراکنده سر گرفت. دو هفته قبل از حمله، صدام مادر قحبه جلوی صد تا خبرنگار، قرار داد ترک مخاصمه‌ای را که پنج سال قبل با شاه بسته بود، پاره کرد>>>

Grandmother

Married at fourteen,
Her half-blossomed bosoms
Literate in cooking and cleaning--
My mother, her first daughter
At nineteen,
Clinging to her apron-- >>>

Enghelab

...>>>

اسارت و انقلاب

آلبوم جدید محسن نامجو مثل همیشه ساختار گریز و گستاخ است. آثار این مجموعه مانند گذشته چیدمانی کانسپتوالیستی از شعر و موسیقی می باشد که درک زیبائی شناختی آنها تنها با نگاهی علمی و بی طرفانه بر موسیقی، شعر، هنرپیشگی و آوازخوانی امکان پذیر است. رویکردی خارج از ساختارهای سنتی با دریافتی خردگرایانه و امروزی از میراث های فرهنگی ایران و جهان همراه با نگاهی فردگرایانۀ هنری در وصف حال و روز ما ایرانیان>>>

Hamash Delam Migireh

...>>>

The Conversation

The dream was a moment, as best as I can remember. It was at Pike Place Market in Seattle. It was late in the evening, around closing time. The cobblestone streets were wet but it had stopped raining, and the day's crowd had thinned out to the market workers and a few last shoppers. The lights of the shops and stalls lit up the night, and I was saying my goodbyes after work, with a little bag of groceries in my hand. In the dream I was vaguely Italian, in the way that Iranians find themselves vaguely Italian when they try to find themselves in American stories>>>

Mushroom in the Sand

Lying on his side with his left arm over a large pillow, Ross stared at the amber glow of the alarm clock as the digits declared 2:47 am. It had been a sleepless night. At times, he felt angry at the clock for not moving faster. Maybe it’s stuck. The thought had occurred to him more than once. Then, as if the device could sense his desperation, it would dole out another minute, causing him to rejoice. But his relief would be short-lived, as the agony of waiting would quickly return. The appointed hour was inching closer>>>

وحدت

هم باده و هم ز باده مستم
خود می‌‌منم... ار چه می‌‌ پرستم

هم میوه تاک باغ عشقم
هم حارث تاک و داربستم
>>>

Setting up the board

"Dear shadow, you have keen eyes.
You looked while I ran,
tell me what you've seen."

"I've seen our path cut through
a crowd's agitation. One by one,
they want to say what they mean.
>>>

عروسی مارسیا

گاهی اوقات پروانه های نشسته به روی نوک انگشتانم را به سمت پایین دست رودخانه ام پرت می کنم تا شاید دست از سرم بردارند. کمی خیس بشوند تا طعم ماهی شدن را بچشند. تکه پرهای یاس سفیدم را بو می کشم تا بوی تنهایی را که در جان و دلم نشسته را از دلم دور کنم. فانوس های پر نور را از سقف آویزان می کنم تا بی هیچ ترس و واهمه ای سایه هایی که به خانه ام هجوم آورده اند را از در خانه ام به بیرون بیاندازم. >>>

The Party Nazi

The other night Becky and I arrived at a large gathering of family and friends. Our generous guest, Mrs. Nicey had obviously spent a good deal of time meticulously preparing for this occasion, cleaning, cooking, and decorating. Her recently remodeled home was tastefully painted and painfully overfurnished with the usual suspectsin the mix, French, Qajar and modern American articles. As soon as we arrived Mrs. Nicey rushed to greet us. She looked rather frazzled though. It must have been the stress of all the hard work of arranging the perfect party. She shook hands and accepted the bottle of wine>>>