The Land

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Manoucher Avaznia
by Manoucher Avaznia
03-Dec-2008
 

The land was fertile:

To breed poets,

And musicians,

Storytellers,

Many soothsayers,

Even sorcerers.

 

To make all of these

You need poverty;

You need beauty;

Superstitions,

Sensetive feelings,

High-run emotions,

Profound wishes,

Deep traditions.

 

For long stories

You would need rebels,

Even some revolts,

Very high mountains,

Very dense forests,

Movement of people;

Of different races,

Varied origins,

And varied cultures,

Reasons for movement,

Of many tribes;

Settled or moving.

 

There were many "would's"

Some of them shallow,

Some were profound.

Roots of some of them

Had been lost in myths

And the old epics

Of our people.

 

They all existed

In every village

And every corner

Within my own reach;

Or little farther

Or a bit before

I came to this world.

 

A trace of verse

Ran in my clan

For few decades;

Not to my father,

Not to his father,

But, to his father.

 

Even a thick book

Of poetry

Had been ascribed

To that lonely man

With only one eye

And only one child

And without much care

For the treasures

Of fleeting world.

 

His main treasure

Was his biting words;

Poisonous, indeed,

That scared people

In the area

Of sword of his pen.

 

I had seen nothing

Of any writing

Of prose or verse

Coming from him.

Neither I saw him;

Though; he was teacher

Of my grand dad's

And also his son's

One of them my dad.

 


 

 

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more from Manoucher Avaznia
 
Souri

Manouchehr/Jaleho

by Souri on

Khorasan is the real motherland of poetry ! I believe .

Please help my memory, I'm getting old !! Beside Shajarian (not a poet of course) there are some great names among our Khorasani celebrities, such as (correct me please) :

Khayam Neishabouri

Ferdowsi

Roudaki

Mehdi Akhavan-Sales

............

.............

fill in the blank !


Manoucher Avaznia

Souri Jaan;

by Manoucher Avaznia on

I will post more of that poem in another occasion.  I hope you will enjoy it.

 

Sepaas


Manoucher Avaznia

Jaleho Jaan;

by Manoucher Avaznia on

You have said the final word about Ostaad.  I just wanted to add that what I posted here is a portion of some 170-page-long-poem in this style in English that I have published in a book tittled "A Taste of Last Cherry" with Infinity Publishing.  I have posted a few pages of that poem in this site already.  I will post more in another occasion.

 

Sepaas


Souri

Thanks Jaleho

by Souri on

I had read that comment of yours in the other blog. I did also the relation between the two blogs....but really am not very good in English !

Thanks again for clarigying more.


Jaleho

Dear Manoucher,

by Jaleho on

How true, the fertile land that breeds poets! That was exactly what I meant by traditions of a certain "khak."

And thanks for affirming my feeling that Shajarian is also from Khoraasaan. He is not a poet, but for me besides the heavenly voice, he has this a unique talent:

he brings out the meaning of the poetry he sings ten fold!!

In other words,  I think the magic of Shajarian is in that  he "anchenan ra anchenan tar mikonad," and in his case, the "anchenan" is the great poetry he sings.

So, in a sense although Shajarian is not a poet, to me the fact that he is from Khoraasaan is fitting and natural, they guy clearly has inhaled a good amount of poetry molecules with his air :-) 

 


Jaleho

Souri, think Khoraasaan!

by Jaleho on

I guess you missed the ending chats I had with Manoucher over his last blog:

//iranian.com/main/blog/manoucher-avaznia...

 

Gods or Devils?!

by Jaleho on

Dear Manoucher, I think Arash was spot on with his beautiful saying : "The gods of poetry are talking to you; we are so lucky to be eavesdropping. "

I was looking at some back and forth you had with Ebi, stuff that I
missed on Thanksgiving, and I thought that FALL seem to sharpen your
talent :-) Then, today I got your book that I had ordered (A Path to
Nowhere, thanks to Souri for providing the link to order it, you should
put it in your profile), and I noticed that you're from Khorasan! You are a living proof to the theory that REGIONAL TRADITIONS make great artists.

 

When I went to Mashad, I just could not get over the fact that I can ride a bike from Ferdowsi's grave to Attar's to  khayyam's! It is a overpowering experience. But, you see how a certain "khak" carries literary traditions over years.......Akhavan Sales or Shafii probably like yourself just breathe poetry!

 

And you know, this is quite universal. I get the same "in awe" feeling when I ride my bike in Concord, MA.... from
Ralph Waldo Emerson House, to Alcott and his daughters little cottage,
to Old Manse where Hawthorne lived, to the little cottage in The Walden
Pond where Henry David Thoreau lived his unique life....all in 20
minutes!!!

I can imagine all of these giants chatting around while they found the
"Transcendental movement," and their literary tradition is still alive
and well in the same area! In summer time, great contemporary writers
are sitting around the Walden Pond, writing their stories, continuing
the tradition of Thoreau.

 

There is something in ceratin "khak" that passes that kind of
tradition. Maybe like Arash says, kids are grown up "eavessdropping" on
the convesation of the talented ones with the Gods of literature and
poetry!

 


Manoucher Avaznia

Souri Jaan;

by Manoucher Avaznia on

This is basically an account of the environement I grew in without naming names.


Souri

Very meaningful

by Souri on

It wasn't very easy for me to read and understand ( 2 difficult things at the same time :D)) but I read it 2/3 times and got the point.

Loved the message. thanks for sharing.