Category: Archive

  • A Poet’s Fantasy, A Persian Romance

    A Poet’s Fantasy, A Persian Romance

    (This essay contains fragments of a talk I presented at a symposium in Melbourne in 2018.) The epic love story of Qays (known as Majnun) and his beloved Leili is a Persian tragedy written by the 11th century poet, Nezami Ganjavi. Over the centuries, the legend became the ultimate meaning of love in cultures influenced…

  • The Epic Tale of Exile

    The Epic Tale of Exile

    (The poetry fragments are by Forough Farokhzad. This essay is the introduction of something I was developing and presented at a conference in Melbourne in 2019.) My talk today is a continuation from what I was developing last year aboutmy city. Today I will continue to speak about the bodies that inhibit othercities. Exile is…

  • A City’s Tale – A Tribute to Forough

    A City’s Tale – A Tribute to Forough

    (This essay contains fragments from a talk I presented at a symposium in Melbourne in Aug 2018.) PART 2 of the talk. Today, I open my talk with an extract of a poem by Forough Farokhzad, my presentation today is about her sense of longing in her poetry. She unabashedly put forth her uncensored words…