It's Not All Academic in Tehran

Among the many debates the occur frequently around poetry, there is the well worn question of what can poetry do… what is it good for anyway? Academics are not the only ones with a view in this question. Evidently Iranian authorities have one too and apparently are fearful of the power of the poetic word. Last week they stopped Simin Behbahani, an 82 year old woman who is nearly blind, from boarding a flight to Paris. Behbahani, is a poet, and known to some as the Lioness of Iran. She was taken away from the airport, interrogated throughout the night, then sent home without her passport.

Behbahani has written poetry in Iran for decades…through the reign of Iran’s Shah, during the Islamic Revolution, and the reign of the ayatollahs. She has been twice nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature. She’s been outspoken for women’s rights. It has not however been easy for her to publish work in the past few years. The government has become more repressive in years towards writers in general. Her last work of poetry published required the removal of 40 poems or fragments thereof once the government censors finished with it.

After the disputed presidential election last summer and hundreds of thousands hit the streets in protest, prompting government crackdown and violence, Behbahani wrote a poem, “Stop Throwing My Country to the Wind.” People who have followed her for many years now have considered her as untouchable. There will be a lot of eyes on Tehran watching how she is treated from here on.

Update on Mary Oliver Visit to KU

Unfortunately the Mary Oliver event for next week at KU has been cancelled. Originally scheduled for March 23-24, it has been scratched due to illness. The Hall Center will make every effort to reschedule this event at some point in the future. I'll keep readers updated as soon as I know something further.

Happy St Patricks Day

As you slide down the banister of life
May the splinters never point the wrong way...

Confession Tuesday

Tuesday has arrived a little faster this week due to daylight savings time, so lets move to the confessional.

I must confess that I do not appreciate the alleged finer points of daylight savings time. I never have. It messes up my internal clock which in turn makes me grouchy about not only the subject but other things as well. If someone wanted to be my hero, they could lead a campaign to repeal it.

I confess that I’m not the greatest house husband. My wife works long hours and I’m not the greatest at picking up slack at home. I can find any number of reasons why things are frustrating in relation to the chores around the house, but I need to stop focusing on reasons. They are like running an obstacle course, the fact that they are there may make the journey a little harder, but they are not a reason not to reach the other end of the course. I can do better.

Having been in a leadership role in the Democratic Party at one time, I have a critical view of how my party is governing presently. I confess there are people I’d like to shake. I know you should never shake children. Is it a bad thing to shake you Congressman or Senator?

Right now, I confess I’m a frustrated writer. There are days I even think of stopping, but I realize I’ve been there before and I would be frustrated in another way altogether were I to stop writing. I confess I’m not especially excited about Poetry Month this year. I’m sort of forcing myself to do the daily poem challenge and not especially looking forward to it. I confess when things are not really going right with my writing I take a harsh view of my own efforts. I can have a hard time with self-esteem. The negative spiral that follows only makes for more stress. Realizing this, I have decided to put more emphasis on reading these next few days and hope that the upside will be a better frame of mind when I set down to write.

I confess I had to laugh this morning when I read if you fiddle with all the letters in Jennifer Aniston's name you can come up with ‘Fine in Torn Jeans.’

An Evening with Poet Mary Oliver March 23 -

Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: The Lied Center of Kansas
Humanities Lecture Series  -  Kansas University





The author of 18 collections of poetry, most notably the Pulitzer Prize-winning American Primitive (1983) and New and Selected Poems, Volume One (1992), which garnered a National Book Award, Mary Oliver will share her work and take questions from the audience. Her most recent collections are The Truro Bear and Other Adventures (2008), new poems and beloved classics about creatures of all sorts, and Evidence (2009). Red Bird (2008) was an immediate national bestseller. Oliver is a past recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship.


For additional information contact Hall Center for the Humanities 785/864-4798

Nathalie Handal - "Lost Poet Of Nightly Dreams"

The Neverfield is an energetically lyrical work by Nathalie Handal. She begins this book length poem, “Riding through the skies wearing different costumes.” An apparent parallel to her own life, for Nathalie Handal is a poet of the world who embraces her universal ties while still searching for the meaning of her roots.

In truth, The Neverfield could be any Palestinian or other person longing for meaning in their existence. There is such passion in these words.

“I felt you browsing through my mind… / and warned you that / the republic inside of you / might / tumble / down / your / chest… / warned you / not to go near the notebooks / piled up by the cup of tea / and the half-moon… / instead to go beside the clay sculpture / by the pinewood… / I heard the march of the patriots / you read the notebooks…/ stood in the middle / of dying and death”

Handal uses her craft well, spacing in the book accentuates her words, and she is a wordsmith of incredible gift or at minimum very learned ability.

Nathalie mimics the spirit of another Palestinian poet. The poet referred to as entering the world on the 13th day of March is Mahmoud Darwish. There is a real sense Darwish’s presence in her words which so beautifully seek to establish The Neverfield as both a place in one’s mind and a geographical place that can be found for real in a poet’s words.

This book is an easy read. It almost glides once started like a self propelled lawn mower pulling you along with little strain. This is a book I will return to often. A book I recommend.

Unconscious Mutterings Week 372

You say, I think....

 

• Children :: kids
• Saddlebags :: horse
• Restraint :: control
• Awake :: alert
• Blood :: sugar
• Shutter ::  camera
• Posted :: mailed
• Corn cob :: roasting ear
• Flagrant :: blatant
• Fart :: gas

get your own list