Soosan Khanoom
به زبان فارسی
PICTORY
LATEST MUSIC
SEARCH
Women & Poetry II
24-May-2011
Stephen kissed me in the spring,
Robin in the fall,
But Colin only looked at me
And never kissed at all.
Stephen’s kiss was lost in jest,
Robin’s lost in play,
But the kiss in Colin’s eyes
Haunts me night and day."
Sara Teasdale
In almost every culture throughout history, women’s sexuality has been more feared than celebrated. Time and again we have witnessed men attempt to control the choices of women. Flirtation, romance, and courtship have become tools but only in the hands of men.
Women are not intrinsically less sexual than men. As a matter of fact women’s sexuality is far superior to the men’s and her sex drive increases as she ages, something that’s quite the opposite in men.
"When man enters woman,
like the surf biting the shore,
again and again,
and the woman opens her mouth in pleasure
and her teeth gleam
like the alphabet,
Logos appears milking a star,
and the man
inside of woman
ties a knot
so that they will
never again be separate
and the woman
climbs into a flower
and swallows its stem
and Logos appears
and unleashes their rivers.
This man,
this woman
with their double hunger,
have tried to reach through
the curtain of God
and briefly they have,
though God
in His perversity unites the knot"
Anne Sexton
Furthermore, a woman desires emotional closeness and intimacy.
"If you want my apartment, sleep in it
but let's have a clear understanding:
the books are still free agents.
If the rocking chair's arms surround you
they can also let you go,
they can shape the air like a body.
I don't want your rent,
I want a radiance of attention
like the candle's flame when we eat,
I mean a kind of awe
attending the spaces between us
Not a roof but a field of stars"
Jane Cooper
A woman enjoys the attention and compliments about her abilities as well as her body.
"My hair is springy like the forest grasses
That cushion the feet of squirrels-
Crinkled and blown in a south breeze
Like small leaves of native bushes.
My black eyes are coals burning
Like a low, full, jungle moon
Through the darkness of being.
In a clear pool I see my face,
Know my knowing.
My hands move pianissimo
Over the music of the night:
Gentle bird fluttering through leaves and grasses
They have not always loved,
Nesting, finding home.
Where are my lovers?
Where are my tall, my lovely princes
Dancing in slow grace
Toward knowledge of my beauty".
Naomi Madgett
Tales like “Arabian Nights” dramatize to some extend about women. In these tales a woman is regularly presented as sexually insatiable, just waiting for the chance to copulate with any man – even a slave, a worker, a stranger once the husband is out of the house. But even the women in those tales, if we pay more attention, were looking to fill an emotional void that existed for them in addition to the sexual needs. They were taking the step in their empowering. An affair is a daring active choice, not a more-of- the-same passive response in the arranged marriages that the women of old tales were forced to. Now traditionally and culturally speaking these things do not necessarily belong to the these tales only.
For whatever reason that is out there, women sexuality has been suppressed greatly by the society that she lives in.
"I married a man of the Croydon class
When I was twenty-two
And I vex him and he bores me
Till we don't know what to do!
It isn't good form in the Croydon class
To say you love your wife,
So I spend my days with the tradesmen's books
and pray for the end of life.
In green fields are blossoming trees
And a golden wealth of gorse,
And the young birds sing for joy of worms:
It's perfectly clear of course,
That it wouldn't be taste in the Croydon class
To sing over dinner or tea:
But I sometimes wish the gentleman
would turn and talk to me!
But every man of the Croydon class
Lives in terror of joy and speech.
'Words are betrayers', 'Joys are brief' -
The maxims their wise ones teach -
And for all my labour of love and life
I shall be clothed and fed,
And they'll give me an orderly funeral
When I'm still enough to be dead".
Anna Wickham
When it comes to the world of poetry, even though traditionally love poems were written by men we still encounter a few women poets who were brave enough to break the taboos. Despite of all the constraints and punishments aiming indiscriminately against women, these female poets did not shy away from their sexuality, desires, and longings. They have contributed to incredibly beautiful poetry as the result of their love affairs.
Whether or not the affair was a prelude to marriage or was just an extramarital love affair, the public display of sexual independence on the part of these female poets are admirable.
In my first blog I wrote about the first published woman poet Sappho. In my current one and in the continuation of the series of “ Women and poetry “ rather than digging into the past I would like to share with you the amazing poetry of some more recent female poets that I came to appreciate.
“From Sappho to myself, consider the fate of women “
Carolyn Kizer (born 1925) fearlessly writes about feminine sensibility and love. In " pro Femina " which is a satiric piece, she clearly states that women still confront obstacles related to their gender.
“But we’re emerging from all that, more or less,
Except for some ladylike laggards and Quarterly priestesses
Who flog men for fun, and kick women to maim competition.
Now, if we struggle abnormally, we may almost seem normal;
If we submerge our self-pity in disciplined industry;
If we stand up and be hated, and swear not to sleep with editors;
If we regard ourselves formally, respecting our true limitations
Without making an unseemly show of trying to unfreeze our assets;
Keeping our heads and our pride while remaining unmarried;
And if wedded, kill guilt in its tracks when we stack up the dishes
And defect to the typewriter. And if mothers, believe in the luck of our children,
Whom we forbid to devour us, whom we shall not devour,
And the luck of our husbands and lovers, who keep free women.”
It is said about Carolyn that she is not a feminist who threatens to tilt the scales of past injustice. Her view of the sexual universe contains polarity without hostility.
Remembering the past
And gloating at it now,
I know the frozen brow
And shaking sides of lust
Will dog me at my death
To catch my ghostly breath.
I think that Yeats was right,
That lust and love are one.
The body of this night
May beggar me to death,
But we are not undone
Who love with all our breath.
I know that Proust was wrong,
His wheeze: love, to survive,
Needs jealousy, and death
And lust, to make it strong
Or goose it back alive.
Proust took away my breath.
The later Yeats was right
To think of sex and death
And nothing else. Why wait
Till we are turning old?
My thoughts are hot and cold.
I do not waste my breath.
As an Iranian woman, it is not fair to continue with this series of mine without mentioning Forough . She was not only a bird caged by a marriage that she no longer wished to stay in if not was for her son, but she also was trapped in a traditional society where women were forced to believe that they have no sexual needs or desires. But Forough so fearlessly emerged from the depth of these unfair assumptions and she loudly and proudly expressed herself in the most beautiful poetic way possible. Forough showed to the Iranian women that there is no shame in being a woman. She was a victim and poetry was her only self-defense.
My nights are painted bright with your dream,
sweet love and heavy with your fragrance is my breast.
you fill my eyes with your presence, sweet love.
giving me more happiness than grief.
like rain washing through the soil
you have washed my life clean.
you are the heartbeat of my burning body;
a fire blazing in the shade of my eyelashes.
you are more bountiful than the wheat fields,
more fruit-laden than the golden boughs.
against the onslaught of darkening doubts
you are a door thrown open to the suns.
when I am with you, I fear no pain
for my only pain is a pain of happiness.
this sad heart of mine and so much light?
sounds of life from the bottom of a grave?
…………..
You are hidden under my skin
flowing through my every cell,
singeing my hair with your caressing hand,
leaving my cheeks sunburned with desire.
you are, sweet love, a stranger to my dress
but so familiar with the fields of my nakedness.
…………..
You are the convulsions of ecstasy in my body,
like a garment, the lines of your figure covering me
.…………..
What else but “love” that Forough felt so deeply could have ever been able to produce such a beautiful poetry …She herself finishes her " Love Song " with these verses:
"You have touched me with the frenzy of poetry;
pouring fire into my songs,
kindling my heart with the fever of love,
thus setting all my poems ablaze, sweet love".
In love there is always a beloved, a lover and a love story. In the poetry of love in addition to all the above, there exists a passionate pouring of heart in the form of words to the point that leaves everyone speechless. The best poems are the ones that leave the reader silent and indeed a " love poem " has no difficulty doing that.
"My eyes want to kiss your face.
I have no power over my eyes.
They just want to kiss your face.
I flow towards you out of my eyes,
a fine heat trembles round your shoulders,
it slowly dissolves your contours
and I am there with you, your mouth
and everywhere around you --
I have no power over my eyes.
I sit with my hands in my lap,
I shan't touch you and I'll never speak.
But my eyes kiss your face,
I rise out of myself and no one can stop me,
I flow out and I'm invisible,
I cannot stop this unfathomable flowing,
this dazzle that knows neither end nor beginning --
but when at last you turn your eyes towards me,
your unaware, questioning, stranger's eyes,
I sink myself back into my hands
and take up my place again under my eyelids".
Solveig Schoultz
Where does this tenderness come from?
Where does this tenderness come from?
These are not the – first curls I
have stroked slowly – and lips I
have known are – darker than yours
as stars rise often and go out again
(where does this tenderness come from?)
so many eyes have risen and died out
in front of these eyes of mine.
and yet no such song have
I heard in the darkness of night before,
(where does this tenderness come from?):
here, on the ribs of the singer.
Where does this tenderness come from?
And what shall I do with it, young
sly singer, just passing by?
Your lashes are – longer than anyone's ".
Marina Tsvetaeva
Some of the finest poetry has been written under the influence of love or as Plato says:
" At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet"
to be continued .......
| Recently by Soosan Khanoom | Comments | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Shirin Ebadi speaks for Nasrin Sotoudeh - Amnesty International . | 8 | Nov 27, 2012 |
| Normalize This! | 4 | Nov 20, 2012 |
| All IN, All IN, & All IN... OK .. OK we got it! | 6 | Nov 13, 2012 |
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 |
Thanks Soosan Khanoom for your comments
by Anahid Hojjati on Fri May 27, 2011 08:59 PM PDTI mean those addressed to yolanda and me. Of course, every relationship is unique. Just yesterday I heard from a friend that her cousin who goes out with an Iranian guy in Europe (She is Iranian too) has very low opinion of women who expect men pay for everything. So she prefers to pay for her own dinner for instance. The guy however feels bad if others see that he is not paying. So solution is that now each month each of them puts money in an account to be used for their activities together. These two have been going out for years though so these discussions have come up for them. I wrote this example to show that every relationship can write its own likes and dislikes. After all, most of us are in Diaspora and originally from a country that has been ruled by backwards people. Sometimes a person has to think about the effect our years of living in IRI has had in how we look at relationships.
And of course a woman can propose : )
by Soosan Khanoom on Fri May 27, 2011 08:10 PM PDT"If you don't marry me you'll be on the street alone looking for a job "..
that is my favorite line from the movie ...
//youtu.be/kPgZcW8MCaA
Yolanda
by Soosan Khanoom on Fri May 27, 2011 08:00 PM PDTI know.. I got your point .... and that is right from beginning that should not happen especially in iranian community ... Iranian men are already too arrogant to deal with ... but in the west things have started to change a little bit ... although i still agree with you that so far not even in the west a woman has proposed the marriage and bought the diamond ring ...
I like to change the proposal part but I still like to keep the diamond part intact ... after all diamonds are girls best friend : )
Anahid
by Soosan Khanoom on Fri May 27, 2011 07:52 PM PDTI think You also have good points here . And yes 21 century ... women should even start going khastegari .... I would love it ... you wait for the guy who comes with tray of tea while you check him out from head to toe ? LOL
but seriously as you said if a guy starts thinking that the girl is cheap just because she initiate something or bought him something then the sooner she get rid of that guy the better ...
..........
by yolanda on Fri May 27, 2011 07:48 PM PDTHi Soosan,
I agree with you that:
And why would she even want to purchase him flowers or anything right from begining... let him do it. He wanted her and she just said OK why not !
I was talking about the beginning stage.
Yolanda
by Soosan Khanoom on Fri May 27, 2011 07:39 PM PDTA love poem is something that comes from heart .. for a poet the words just come . They pour like rain. A poet who is in love can not control anything. she becomes a vessel through which love starts writing . It is not that the poet writes it randomly to whom it may concern. There is a special someone in her mind. Everything is sacred and nothing is cheap when it comes to love. I can not imagine what would be the result when two poets fall in love .?.. those love poems are priceless ..... !
I like it when a man buy the woman whom he loves some romantic gifts and flowers but I also see no problem for the woman who is equally in love to buy him some romantic gifts as well .
There are, however, some truth in what you said but, only and only, when it comes to tradition, culture, and norm where love has nothing to do with it. At that point then perhaps certain things look cheap to do ...
It seems that traditionally women always prefer to be wanted by a man rather than choose to want a man or at least that is what women forced to believe and that is what I call khastegaree Iranian style .. like a young girl waits till the khastegars starting to show up one by one at her door and then she chooses one based on the education, job, and income and once her father or mother approved the guy then she says yes . OK ...now is there anything romantic here to write a love poem about? May be after marriage if she ever falls in love with the guy ... she writes something ..... but mostly she grow to like him dearly no question ask and that is if things work out but falling in love with all that trills and chills ?... well I do not think so
And why would she even want to purchase him flowers or anything right from begining... let him do it. He wanted her and she just said OK why not !
Yolanda, if the relationship is good
by Anahid Hojjati on Fri May 27, 2011 05:18 PM PDTI believe the proposal is formality. In a functional relationship, both would know from the actions and talks of the other person, where they stand. I really don't care to convince you, but for your own good and enlightment, you may want to do more research. That said, if a guy wants 80 percent control in romantic relationship, there is nothing wrong with this. He just has to find a doormat.
...........
by yolanda on Sun May 29, 2011 08:32 AM PDT*
Dear Yolanda, a guy
by Anahid Hojjati on Fri May 27, 2011 04:47 PM PDTWho thinks a girl is cheap because she bought him flowers or wrote him love poems, is in effect depriving the woman in relationship of control. This is probably a guy who wants to initiate everything himself and the woman is supposed to like this. I personally find this behavior in guys not sexy if they think less of a woman because she has initiative. The woman is better off to know that in the beginning. Now that you wrote this, women can actually use this as a litmus test. Buy some flowers for the guy they like and observe his reaction. Will he have the grace to take it as a sign of his girlfriend thinking of him or he will think she is cheap. Yolanda jan, please don't forget that it is 21st century not 18th.
..........
by yolanda on Fri May 27, 2011 04:16 PM PDT"When it comes to the world of poetry, even though traditionally love poems were written by men we still encounter a few women poets who were brave enough to break the taboos."
***************************
If a girl (or woman) writes love poems to a guy, the guy may get scared away! :O).........just like if a girl starts to buy a guy flowers, the guy may not feel comfortable........and even think the girl is cheap!
Thank you again for your poetry blog! OMG! The poems are too hot to handle!
PW
by Soosan Khanoom on Wed May 25, 2011 09:30 PM PDTThank you ... I am glad you like it ...
You mentioned a good point:
" As for the poetry despite that women appear to be potentially more capable of expressing their affections and ideals through words, men have been better represented in the realm of poetry and literature, especially in Iran. "
The best poets are Persian Poets. Number one poet in the U.S as we speaking is Rumi ...
And of course we have Hafez, no need to say that people around the world are in love with his poetry and then we have Attar, Baba Tahir, khayam, Nezami and list goes on and goes on ......
How is it that Iran, that ancient lands of ours , has been able to produce such Masters of poetry but sadly almost none when it comes to the female poets ?
Female poets have been discriminated against every where but when it comes to Iranian female poets the discrimination is beyond belief ....
Forough was an exception and sadly even now after decades of her death we are witnessing how some people are unfair when it comes to judging her both as a woman and as a poet and they want to separate her personal life, her struggles, her life and her love from her beautiful poetry .... This mentality should stop and we should allow that a woman be a woman and expresses herself in her poetry no matter what ..
Afsaneh jan
by Soosan Khanoom on Wed May 25, 2011 09:59 PM PDTThank you for taking your time and commenting.....
I am a little bit confused when it comes between earthly and divine love ..
Poems can not distinguish between sacred and profane love. There is not really a boundary there . Wether it is the passionate poem of hafez and Attar or the love poems of Emily Dickinson.
I personally think one can not really experience a sacred love unless she or he first experienced a sensuous passionate earthly one .....
We may think we are in love but how are we suppose to know what love is if we had not experienced it in flesh before?
or if you have not fallen in love before?
Hafez was in love with a girl called " Nabat " .... and he wrote beautiful poetry may be it was a mixture of earthy and divine as you said .... or just divine but I do not think so he could have ever been able to write so passionately about love and separation if he had not fallen in love with Nabat ?
Once one falls in love ... everything becomes sacred
Great blog!
by persian westender on Wed May 25, 2011 01:32 PM PDTIt’s great to look at women’s sexuality from their own point of views. I think the sexuality in women compared to men, seem to be more influenced by romance, affections, idealism and sentimentalism, and so on….
As for the poetry despite that women appear to be potentially more capable of expressing their affections and ideals through words, men have been better represented in the realm of poetry and literature, especially in Iran. This, I believe is more related to social and cultural barriers or glass ceilings which inhibited women in expressing themselves. Otherwise, women would have been more dynamic in this field. Forough however, was an exception. She was so open-minded and free-thinker, and very much ahead of her time, so that she could break the social taboos...
PS: The first poem from Sara Teasdale is so beautiful...
the mystical state of "love":
by Hafez for Beginners on Wed May 25, 2011 11:53 AM PDTThanks for the very informative Blog - Soosan jan.
My first "love" wasn't a human being, and as Persians, our mystical poetry's greatest contribution is to spread the definition of the word "love" - while Hafez for example, blends earthly and divine love.
I enjoyed the read, thank you.
Afsaneh
شراب جان , خوب هستم و دعاگوی شما و شمیران
Anahid HojjatiWed May 25, 2011 10:20 AM PDT
شراب سزخ عزیز , از کمکت متشکرم . مثل اینکه آقایان این فرم ابرو را دوست دارند .
شاید باید مداد بکشم تا ابروهای ما هم با هم یکتا شوند.
...
by Red Wine on Wed May 25, 2011 09:53 AM PDTسوسن خانم...مشکل اینجاست که شما دوستان به سادگی افرادی را متهم میکنید که حال در میان ما نیستند و نمیتوانند از خود دفاع کنند ،این جریان ربطی به شاه و رعیت ندارد ! چند زن داشتن کار درستی نیست و بر ضدّ این مطلب، هیچ گونه توضیح و دلیلی شایسته نباشد.
توجه بفرمایید که در آن زمان..این گونه رفتار امری متداول بوده است،هر مردی که اندک ثروتی میداشته (اعم از شاه زاده و یا میرزا زاده [میرزا زاده افراد تحصیل کرده]) به خود این اجازه را میداده که چند زن اختیار کند،دلایلی فراوان بر این مطلب هست که این امر مختص به شاه زادگان نبوده است.بسیاری از خانوادهها آرزو داشتند که دخترانشان را این گونه شوهر دهند،لااقل همه چیز عیان بوده است و همچو فرنگ هیچ چیزی نهفته نبوده است و هم شرع و هم قانون این حکم را به مردان میداده است.
صحبت در این مقوله زیاد است وقت اندک و زمان طلا !
آناهید خانم جان... حال و احوالِ جنابعالی چطور است ؟ سلامت باشید . . .
همان ابروهای زیبا نشانی از فرهنگی دارند که زنان ایران زمین برای آن زحمتِ فراوان کشیدند و این تنها در قالب زنان قجر نمیگنجد و در رابطه با تمام نسوان ایرانی است.
هر چند که آن بزکها را ما بیشتر میپسندیم تا به سبک فعلی،لااقل سبک آن ابروها ایرانی بوده است و نه تقلید از جایِ دگر ! زنده باد تمام خانمهای واقعی ایران زمینی .
همیشه سبز باشید.
Dear Red Wine, I apologize
by Anahid Hojjati on Wed May 25, 2011 09:29 AM PDTGhajar hagh bozorgee be gardane ma darand since if they did not have pictures of their women with unibrow, Iranian women would not know the importance of shaping their eyebrows.
oh no not all
by Soosan Khanoom on Wed May 25, 2011 09:25 AM PDTSharaab eh aziz Ghermez ... che zahmati ? befarmaeed ... manzeleh khodetan hast
Ok now ..... mardaan eh faameele ma ghalat kardan agar chan zaneh boodand ... zanhaayeh faameeleh ma would kill them : )
but they were not " Shah " so they could not afford to have at least that many and people would not bring them girls as gifts ..
I believe Ghajar and Safavi kings were just piling up on those gifts and did not have time or power to even unwrap them ... even if viagra was around that could not have been helpful with all those gifts ..... they surly needed some assistance .... I am just guessing no hard evidence unless we do DNA tests .... that requires to dig out poor kings ...oh no we do not want that ... let us say they all fathered those kids.... I am sorry if i have offended any shah zaadeh here
as long as he is not Reza jan the second I guess I am safe ..... : )
...
by Red Wine on Wed May 25, 2011 08:36 AM PDTسوسن خانمِ عزیز،نخواستیم خدای نکرده مزاحمتان شویم اما...
در مورد خاندان قاجار فرمودید و در رابطه با زن گرفتنِ ایشان... میخواستیم بدانیم که آیا شما از مردانِ شریفِ خاندانِ خودتان اطلاعِ دقیق دارید ؟! آیا این مرحومان در تمام عمر بزرگوار خویش با یک همسر زندگی را میگذراندند و یا خیر ؟! چون به عنوانِ مثال ما شجره نامه داریم،کاغذ اصل و پشت قرآن نبشته داریم که هر کدام از کجا آمده ایم، کیست جدِّ پدر و کیست جدِّ مادر !
برای ما ثقیل است که هضم کنیم که شخصی بیاید و این گونه اسمِ خاندانی را بیاورد و مطالب گوید، مستحضر هستید که دیگر در دورانی هستیم که نمیشود بیراهه به صحرای کربلا زد و مردمان را نادان فرض کرده و داستانها سازیم !
-بنابراین استدعا داریم که مدارکی نشان دهید که شامل این باشد که تمام قجر زادگان چند زن بودند (پدر بنده،شازده عموها و شازده داییها هیچ کدام چند زن نبودند و چندی دیگر به همچنین !)
-توانایی این را دارید که از خود شجره نامه نشان دهید که مربوط به اواخر سلطنتِ حضرت مظفر الدین شاه بزرگ قاجار ( مدارکِ قابلِ قبول :سجلد و پشت قرآن تا به سر حد اولین سرشماریِ میر پنج !) باشد که در آن نشان دهد که مردانِ محترمِ فامیلِ شما چند زنه نبودند ؟
قضیه را روشن فرموده و ما را از تاریکیِ شک و گمان برهانید که خوب میدانید که این روزها دیگر جایِ نقل پراکنیهای ناراحت کننده نیست و ما و دیگر دوستان سخت میبایستی جلوی این عمل را بگیریم.
موفق باشید و موید .
Soosan khanoom, you may be related to royalty in Russia
by Anahid Hojjati on Wed May 25, 2011 08:04 AM PDTYou wrote that your great grandmother is from Russia, so you might be related to royalty in Russia. Any way it does not matter. I am not even queen at my own home, at least not when my daughter is around . Between the two of us, she lives more of a princess life which is fair since she is young, beautiful, not married yet, cannot be bothered by housework :), head full of dreams, just like a Princess should be.
Princess Anahid .. LOL
by Soosan Khanoom on Wed May 25, 2011 07:46 AM PDTbut ...No shah thingy in my family ....... My parents were from northern part of Iran and my great grandmother was from Russia ... some how she ended up marrying my great grandfather .... i am hopping that was love : )
Soosan khanoom, May be some some hired help did help after all
by Anahid Hojjati on Wed May 25, 2011 07:30 AM PDTAs far as fathering so many kids, don't forget that they must have had many male hired helps and they might have really helped. Thank god I am related to Zands not Ghajars, otherwise my family would get upset with me. i wonder if I cannchange my user ID to princess, oh no, we already have one.
Anahid
by Soosan Khanoom on Wed May 25, 2011 07:23 AM PDTI agree on Ghajar family ... each of them had like hundreds wives .... just calculate the rest ... those king were the reason for increase in Iranians population : )
but on the second thought however ... that may be just the name that some are carrying.... not necessarily it means the father was a Ghajar ...
Come on that many women !!... How could the tiny old king be responsible for each single pregnancy? I bet if we do some DNA tests we see some surprising result !!
Soosan Khanoom, you may have the timeline wrong
by Anahid Hojjati on Wed May 25, 2011 07:22 AM PDTi am not sure reason for Forough's divorce was her falling in love with Golestan. Have to read more. People make it more spicy than it was. She was unhappy in marriage and she wrote love poems which could be all product of her imagination. Later when she already had major problems with her husband, she fell in love with Golestan. Her unhappiness with marriage did not start with Golestan. please research and do a blog on this to settle this issue for once and all.
Anahid and Yolanda
by Soosan Khanoom on Wed May 25, 2011 07:12 AM PDTBy arranged marriage as I said i meant the Khastegaree which you get married first and then see if you like it or not !! not really for the sake of heart but for the sake of, well it is time to get married so why not ......
I am interested to find out more about her first marriage anyway .....but judging her by the three poems she wrote; captive, love song, and Sin ... I am sure on one thing; she was not happily married and she could not get out of it easily either......
now in iran especially in those old days divorce was a taboo .... also women have no right to divorce ... a law that existed at the time of shah and still exists today...
what then a woman should do?
she does not want to be with her husband for any reason
it is a taboo to get divorce
she does not have the right to even get divorce
and even if she does she can not take care of her kids anymore
now in between she falls in love with another man
and if any one finds about it
she gets stoned to death .......
As i mentioned Forough was a victim and her poetry was her only self defense
I will always admire her ... always
Thanks Soosan Khanoom for a great blog.
by Anahid Hojjati on Wed May 25, 2011 03:59 AM PDTThe opening poem in your blog is great, the one about kiss in the eyes.
If I remember correctly, even though Forough married her cousin,she liked him, at least initially. I think someone else mentioned this too, possibly on another thread.
Nice quote from Plato. A friend also told me that all Iranians are either from Ghajar family or poet and some are both. Again, thanks for sharing.
.........
by yolanda on Tue May 24, 2011 10:50 PM PDTWow! What a blog......so Forough had an arranged marriage.....no wonder she had an affair with another guy.
Thank you for sharing the eye-opening poetry!