The Book of Absence is a sequence of 135 brief poems by Alireza Roshan, translated from Persian. Here, the humanist spirituality of Persian Sufism … the evocative minimalism of tanka … and the evergreen universality of love poetry … coalesce as an intense, gripping, sustained, interior journey that coheres as a memorable, transformative, book-length poem.
The Book of Absence is a sequence of 135 brief poems by Alireza Roshan, translated from Persian. Here, the humanist spirituality of Persian Sufism … the evocative minimalism of tanka … and the evergreen universality of love poetry … coalesce as an intense, gripping, sustained, interior journey, one that coheres as a memorable, transformative, book-length poem.
The author’s deep soul vision intensifies language to a state of transparency. A thematic arc threads through the poems’ unfoldment, across three booklets: The Book of Me, The Book of You, and The Book of Nothing. This reflects a classic Sufi figure. We begin where we all are, with feelings of isolation and the suffering which it inevitably engenders. As the poet delves deeper and deeper into his pain, the human object of longing for union becomes intertwined with the divine Beloved. This mystic point of view spills over into the soul of the world, the better world we know is possible. As we taste the fruits of this encounter, we move beyond labels.
Each poem penetrates the heart, revealing the vulnerability of human existence, while healing its woundedness through poetic expression. Minimalism becomes maximalism, as it all coheres as a sustained, gripping, book-length poem – variations on a theme in the tradition of Khayyam or Attar, with echoes of Layla and Majnun by Nizami. This is well-suited for our age of texting a lover, yet feeling at a loss for words.
In a nutshell – “ Sufi Blues. ”
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Sprouts are becoming visible in the English-speaking world … via Asymptote … Essential Voices: Poetry of Iran & Its Diaspora (Green Linden Press) … Evergreen Review … Jacket 2 … Konch Magazine … Poem-a-Day (Poets.org) … World Literature Today ( the latter two w/ audio of the poet reading ) … & Y’ALLA A Texan Journal of Middle Eastern Literature.
Alireza Roshan ( born 1977, Teheran ) headed the Books desk at Iran’s reformist daily newspaper, Shargh. He initially gained fame publishing his his brief poems daily on the Internet – attracting a following of thousands of readers. For many, the poems gave voice to pent-up frustration at failed national reforms. Impressed by the poem’s high quality, no one could believe he didn’t already have a book out ~ so he became known as the Poet Without a Book. A selection was finally published in Tehran, followed by a French edition entitled Jusqu’à toi combien de poèmes ( How Many Poems Until There’s You ). Besides The Book of Absence, he’s author of Busy, Cage Poetry, Fade, Leyli’s Shadow (a novel), A Little Book of Love Poetry, Moonstone, The Point & Other Stories, Suwayda, and We.
Naomi Shahib Nye calls his work “exquisite, intimate, wondrous and wise.” n European Journal (Brussels), Michel Manasse noted his poetry reminds him of Omar Khayyam and Sa’adi. In personal correspondence, Elizabeth T. Gray, Jr., poet and translator of Hafez and Forugh Farrokhzad, writes of his poems : “ … both modern and koan-like while remaining so distinctly Persian … absolutely stunning, and important ! “ Poet-playwright-biographer Aram Saroyan writes: “This wonderful book races through the cosmos at the speed of light.”
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-~-=|> Proposal for book publishers
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covers of books by Alireza Roshan
calligraphy by Alireza Roshan
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READINGS
GG first read 20 work-in-progress translations in 2017, at an annual memorial for the bombing of Al-Mutanabbi Street — named for a 10th-century poet, Baghdad’s cultural and intellectual center, – one of multiple readings in the US & UK, and in Baghdad, Berlin, Dubai, Paris, Quebec, Venice, Sydney, and Vancouver. [ Video: Persis Karim | 5:22 ] https://archive.org/details/20PoemsByAlirezaRoshan
Introduced by SF Poet Emeritus, Jack Hirschman, GG reads translations of Alireza Roshan, plus Bijan Jalali, Edmond Jabès, ancient Chinese Zen poems, Ko Un, & a couple of his own poems, [32:33] https://archive.org/details/Tuesday_201712
Celebrating the launch of the voluminous, luminous anthology Essential Voices – Poetry from Iran & Its Diaspora, GG joined in on Night Two of readings, (Oct. 20, 2021) featuring Roja Chamankar, Armen Davoudian, Tyler Fisher, Persis Karim, Haidar Khezri, Leyla Momeny, George Reiner, Siavash Saadlou, and Niloufar Talebi. Night One (Oct. 19, 2021) featured Mansour Alimoradi, Kaveh Bassiri, Mandana Chaffa, Amin Fatemi, Mahdi Ganjavi, Fayre Makeig, Daniel Rafinejad, Parisa Saranj, and Ali Zarrin.
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You are always the next poem
