Three Poems

Poetry ~ Alireza Abiz

1. Detention
 
The heater was swallowing both our shivers
And the jug of gas oil
And its smoke in the half-dark cellar
Went up to help the spiders
 
A middle-aged man was laughing joyously
He had killed his neighbour
An old man, fingers trembling,
Put a cigarette between yellow teeth
While eyeing the teenage boy
Who was singing in a sad voice
 
A young man swept slowly
He had long fingers
And had been brought in drunk from the gutter
 
I had only written on the wall:
“Safoora, my darling
I’d die for you, my red rose”.

 
2. The Pressure Gauge
 
Until this moment I had not thought
About the pressure gauge across from me
But I have thought a lot
About Breyten Breytenbach
And about his apology for his brilliant poem
To which he appended a list
Of those who had lost their lives
As well as the name of their murderer
 
“Dear Prime Minister,
I honestly apologize.
Writing that poem was unjustified
As was its publication”
 
So, sincerely, to the dictator
Apologized Breyten Breytenbach, poet

 
3. We came out of the café at five
 
We came out of the café at five
For a short walk in the street
For a short walk in the street
We came out of the café at five
 
A man kept shaking his head
In the butcher’s on the right
In the butcher’s on the right
A man kept shaking his head
 
When at 5 they beheaded us
We also shook our heads
We also shook our heads
When at 5 they beheaded us
                      ~
​

Photo Credit: Fabrice Gagos
Alireza Abiz is an Iranian poet, literary critic and translator based in London. He studied English Literature in Mashhad and Tehran universities and received his PhD in Creative Writing –Poetry from Newcastle University, UK.
Abiz has written extensively on Persian contemporary literature and culture. His scholarly book ‘Censorship of Literature in Post-Revolutionary Iran: Politics and Culture since 1979’ is forthcoming by Bloomsbury.
He has so far published five collections of poetry in Persian; ‘Stop! We must get off’, ‘Spaghetti with Mexican sauce’, ‘I can hear a tree from my desk’ “13/1 Koohsangi Street” and ‘Black Line- London Underground’. The latest collection published in 2017 was awarded the most prestigious independent poetry award in Iran, the Shamlou Award.  Abiz is also an award-winning translator and has translated some leading English language poets including Basil Bunting, Derek Walcott, Jack Kerouac and C.K. Williams into Persian. English, German and Arabic translations of his poetry have been published in numerous journals and anthologies and have been showcased in public places including Stuttgart Underground in Germany.
Abiz’s poetry is deeply rooted in the social and intellectual life of his society. Political struggles of present-day Iran are a recurrent theme as is the narrative of disquiet, detention, torture and conscience.
The following poems are translated from Persian by the poet in conversation with W. N. Herbert. 

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