Six Poems by Ali Asadollahi
/1
In honor of peace
Solely binge drinking
Solely stagger dancing
The bullet passing through the vineyards
Never hits the target
2
Nor that sturdy tree
Nor that frisky little boy
No longer know how to stand
The old man’s staring at the cane
The cane’s staring at the old man
3
Yellow in green
Black in white
:
Fall stabbed the spring in back
Night cast a shadow over the day’s corpse
Leave “red in blue” for later
One day
I'll throw the history books into the sea
4
Smile...
May this smile hold me up
I’m a broken wall
Pick up that picture frame
See me collapse
5
God created your feet
Man invented the wheel
Who knows between the two lines above
How many mines are concealed?!
6
A lady’s silk gown
Day of mourning on the butterflies’ calendar.
Ali Asadollahi was born in 1987 in Tehran, Iran. He became interested in poetry in 2003, and since then he has devoted his time to poetry. His first book, A to Z, was published in 2010. In one of the most reputable Persian literary magazines of the time, the book was praised as "Best Young Poetry Book of the Year." To date, he has published five poetry books. His latest book, The Coco’s Tale, was nominated for the prestigious Iranian poetry book prize, the Ahmad Shamlou award, in 2019, but he withdrew in protest of the severe censorship of books in Iran. Ali Asadollahi is currently researching ways to create Persian dramatic poetry.
Read an interview with Ali Asadollahi here.
