Poems From a Land of Wonders

By Fabrizio Frosini and Poets Unite Worldwide

"All in all, this poetry collection is a way of making sense of reality, history, and the relation held together among the people of a nation. It deals with a complex experiment in which experiences and attitudes bind and are such overshadowed in their artistic work that circulates the flow of their drift through faith, hope, help, despair, and solitude."
[Prof. Masoud Rostami]
***
This is a collection of poetry by 32 Iranian Authors on various themes, with their homeland, Iran, as the only common cause. Diversity of emotions, ideas, and impressions is naturally the essence of such a book, but that is exactly the meaning of "putting a human face" to it. The poets of this anthology together uncover the reality underneath the image widely broadcast by the world media directly influenced by a political agenda. Under the disquieting figure painted by propaganda for or against Iran, here lies a familiar human face with all the common concerns:
- love, peace, nostalgia:
"Yesterday / In the subway / I met my childhood. / She sat in front of me / Licked a spiral lollypop. / Stared with her round / Eyes at me / She didn’t know me" [Negar Gorji],
- loneliness:
" all weekends are alike / all 4 o'clocks lonely" [Bahareh Azad],
- spirituality, honor:
"The Achaemenid soldier's spirits / Still march along the Persepolis streets; / Their future sons for eight years gave what they could / hands and lives! they happily sacrificed their childhood" [Ellias Aghili Dehnavi],
- beauty of nature, glory:
"My country is the land of wonders / A cat shape on the map of the Middle East / A bowl of water on its neck / And Persian Gulf at its paws!" [Zahra Jannesari-Ladani],
- hope, loyalty:
"Together we stand ‘cause divided we fall / Together we share and show / Our love and unity / Only to proclaim proudly / That paradise prevails" [Abtin Safavipoor],
- horror:
" Thoughts whirling ceaselessly as in the deadliest swing, / Snow dropping carelessly as there’ll be no spring, / Waves raving as they song of death sing." [Parnian Sharifi],
- affection:
" When the moon shines bright / I want you to know / That if I leave this place / Sooner than I’ve planned, / You’ll always find me at home; / I’ll always be home." [Sara Soleimami],
...and God:
" O the almighty Gloom we sense thy presence; / Come close our dear and fill our vacant essence." [Baharan Taleghani]
This is the image you cannot discover unless you turn off your TV and social media, and turn to Poetry, the very heart of humanity.”
[Afrooz Jafarinoor]

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fabrizio Frosini
• Release date: Dec 25, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463174142

Fabrizio Frosini

Born in Tuscany, Italy. Currently living close to Florence and Vinci, Leonardo's hometown. Doctor in Medicine, specialized in Neurosurgery, with an ancient passion for Poetry, he is the Author of over 2,000 poems published in 20 personal books. Frosini writes in Italian, his native language, and English. He is the founder of the International Association "Poets Unite Worldwide," with which he has published more than 50 Anthologies. Among his own books: «The Chinese Gardens - English Poems», «Prelude to the Night», «Anita Quiclotzl & Her Souls - Anita Quiclotzl e le Sue Anime» (Bilingual Ed.) - [for the others, see below].~*~In Frosini's Poetry:1. The Truth is Affirmed ; 2. Beauty is Conveyed ; 3. The Personal becomes the Universal.One of the key terms in contemporary poetry is 'POETRY OF WITNESS'. "Florence, A Walk With A View" is an excellent example of this type of poem. It exchanges the anger we experienced in the preceding poem with melancholy, but this is a haunted and desperate melancholy, not at all like the word's root meaning of sweet sorrow. Yet, in Fabrizio Frosini's poem, the city charms the visitor with its natural beauty - "the silky lights of the / Sunset" - and artistic ambiance - "the intimate warmth of nostalgia that makes / Your heart melt at the sight around".In the finest poetry, beauty is conveyed in all of it sensuous and spiritual glory. The title "Water Music" refers to one of Handel's most popular works, a masterpiece of baroque melody, rhythm and harmony. The poem, however, is not about this music.. here is a shining element of the beauty this poem conveys - "I was in my room, staring at the clear sky through the window. The moon, so pale and magical, drawing my imagination to her. In my ears Handel's music was playing softly." - There is the beauty of VITA NOVA, in this Frosini's poem: Dante's idealization of Beatrice with its artistic and moral benefits experienced by a contemporary couple. And finally the beauty of sublimation, when an otherwise sensuous experience must be transferred to the plane of the Imagination. Other Frosini's poem, like "Nocturnal Snowing", are Poems of Memory, that reveal the persistence of an experience of mutual attraction in the poet's life over many decades. There, a young woman, who is forever young and lovely in the poet's mind, becomes a touchstone of emotional value. But not all good experiences are given a future by the hand of fate. And so Frosini's poetry also explores the emotional consequences of the loss of such a promising moment... The prevailing reaction in reader after reader is that Frosini's verses relate to their emotional lives. In other words, Fabrizio Frosini's personal experience reflects their personal experience, and thus the Personal becomes the Universal...~*~Books published as sole Author:(*BE*: Bilingual Editions, English–Italian ; All books have PAPERBACK and EBOOK Editions)– «The Chinese Gardens – English Poems» – English Ed. – (published also in Italian Ed.:– «I Giardini Cinesi» – Edizione Italiana);– «KARUMI – Haiku & Tanka» – Italian Ed.;– «Allo Specchio di Me Stesso» ('In the Mirror of Myself') – Italian Ed.;– «Il Vento e il Fiume» ('The Wind and the River') – Italian Ed.;– «A Chisciotte» ('To Quixote') – Italian Ed.;– «Il Puro, l'Impuro – Kosher/Treyf» ('The pure, the Impure – Kosher / Treyf') – Italian Ed.;– «Frammenti di Memoria – Carmina et Fragmenta» ('Fragments of Memories') – Italian Ed.;– «La Città dei Vivi e dei Morti» ('The City of the Living and the Dead') – Italian Ed.;– «Nella luce confusa del crepuscolo» ('In the fuzzy light of the Twilight') – Italian Ed.;– «Limes —O La Chiave Dei Sogni» ('The Key to Dreams') – Italian Ed.;– «Echi e Rompicapi» ('Puzzles & Echoes') – Italian Ed.;– «Ballate e Altre Cadenze» ('Ballads and Other Cadences') – Italian Ed.;– «Selected Poems – Επιλεγμένα Ποιήματα – Poesie Scelte» – Greek–English–Italian (Αγγλικά, Ελληνικά, Ιταλικά – Greek translation by Dimitrios Galanis);– «Prelude to the Night – English Poems» – English Ed. (published also in Italian Ed.:– «Preludio alla Notte» – Edizione Italiana);– «A Season for Everyone – Tanka Poetry» – English Ed.;– «Evanescence of the Floating World – Haiku» – English Ed.;– «From the Book of Limbo – Dal Libro del Limbo» – *BE*;– «Anita Quiclotzl & Her Souls – Anita Quiclotzl e le Sue Anime» – *BE*.~*~Forthcoming publications:– «Mirror Games — A Tale» – English Edition (also in Italian Ed.:– «Giochi di Specchi — Un Racconto»);– «Il Sentiero della Luna» ('The Moon's Path') – Italian Edition.~*~For the Anthologies published by Fabrizio Frosini with "Poets Unite Worldwide", see Frosini's profile as a PUBLISHER, or POETS UNITE WORLDWIDE's profile.~*~Some of Frosini's poems are also published in the Anthology "Riflessi 62" (Italian Edition), edited by Pagine Srl.~*~Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/poetsuniteworldwide/Website address:https://poetsuniteworldwide.org/Blog:https://poetsuniteworldwide.wordpress.com/Twitter username:@fabriziofrosini

Book preview

ABOUT THE PROJECT

In a world that is becoming more polarized and dangerous, Poetry has the ability to breathe hope into life and infuse life into dreams… This is why, as I wrote elsewhere, "the more young people embrace Poetry, the more it will let our hope in Humanity grow."

From here, the aim of our projects is to offer opportunities to bring people together and allow a growing number of them, especially the young, to embrace poetry —or keep writing poems. Indeed, at a time so problematic and fraught with risks for the world, even with direct threats addressed to your own country, Iran, I believe that a message of peace and fraternity expressed through poetry is the best way to reaffirm that friendship and respect for others cannot be limited by borders, and that human values are those that unite all people of good will, worldwide.

On a previous occasion, referring to the difficulties so many people are facing, I wrote: "We live in a complex and difficult world —in unjust societies— therefore it is the duty of all people of good will to work to the best of their abilities, day after day, so that the hope of a better world may come true... at least, for those who'll come after us: the future of the human society —of Humankind."

To make the world a safer and fairer place we need to stop with the politics of hate, and remember the sensible words of George Bernard Shaw, which resonate as the antithesis of the individualism and selfishness of our time:

"We are made wise not by the recollection of our past,

but by the responsibility for our future."

~*~

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thirty-two Iranian poets have taken part in this collection, and I wish to thank All of Them.

A special thank you goes to professor Masoud Rostami for the detailed and keen Preface; to Ellias Aghili Denhavi, for the Introductory Note (but he has also worked, together with his group —M.O.P., in particular with the help of Elham Jafari— to ensure the success of the project), and to Afrooz Jafarinoor, for the Blurb.

Last but not least, "un grazie di cuore" to my British co-editor and friend, Tom Billsborough, who really did a great job on the lyrics (*).

Enjoy the reading.

(Fabrizio Frosini, Firenze, June 2019)

~*~

(*) A clarification: Tom Billsborough edited all the poems except Bahareh Azad's lyrics, since her poetry cannot be edited properly —from B. Azad’s note: "The disintegrated form of the poems is deliberate. Twisting and sabotaging the structure or punctuation, and doing away with grammar to form gaps are actually part of my philosophy of poetry (and its mission to go against marginalizing norms)."

~*~

In prayer and fasting hypocrites pretend

They’re drunken saints who’ve reached the journey’s end—

Maulana Rumi (1207–1273), Masnavi

(translated by Jawid Mojaddedi)

~*~

Introductory Note

(Ellias Aghili Denhavi)

I will never forget the moment when, opening the email sent me by my Italian friend, Fabrizio Frosini, I read: "What do you think about an anthology of poems from Iran?"

That night I was working on a lecture about the culture and ethnicity of North Dakota. There were key words in that presentation that echoed in my head —such as: minority, margins, civic gap, and so on— which reminded me of my country's recent position on the international scene. The lack of international participation and not having the chance, as a person, to be called a citizen of the world, have always irritated me. So I realized that a project about an Anthology of OUR OWN poetry could represent a chance to show the actual, peaceful nature of Iranian people, and our talent and imagination: a collection of poems, from our wonderful country, that could also be seen as a prelude to further voices from those who are made secluded.

So I discussed this opportunity with my colleagues and friends in our international organization (M.O.P) and they too warmly welcomed the idea. Later, I explained this projects to my professors and they embraced it! The next step was to spread the news through social media. It worked well: in a few weeks, a good number of poems about different themes were submitted, and I can proudly say that the famous Persian Poetry Complexity and the metaphorical-non-direct styles can be sensed throughout the collection. The Authors have let their minds weave themes and stories, to create a poetic effect which, at first glance, may seem far from the style of our ancestors, but still has those hidden didactic flavors.

The readers of this anthology, through our words, will feel the warmth and peacefulness of our souls, which share the common concerns of any human beings on this small planet. We Iranian poets, as active members of the international community, seek to convey our message of peace through our art and constructive dialogues.

After the publication of this book at Smashwords, as an English Edition, we are committed to publishing it also in Iran, as a Persian edition —and I've already started working on it…

On behalf of All the Poets who contributed to this anthology, I wish to express our gratitude to my dear friend, Dr. Frosini, for this beautiful project, and also to my dear professor, Masoud Rostami, who never let us down. Our thanks also go to Tom Billsborough, our British editor, and —last but not least— to my dear colleague Elham Jafari, for her active and constructive involvement in the project. I’ll never forget my friends in M.O.P, who answered my invitation with enthusiasm, and made this happened. Truly,

"Our hearts won't heal in small dreams."

Thank you All!

(Ellias Aghili Denhavi, Isfahan, June 2019)

__________

Our hearts won't heal in small dreams. ~ from Fabrizio Frosini’s poem, 'Beyond' ('The Chinese Garden — English Poems', 2015)

~*~

Listen to the reed flute as it complains,

The tale of separations it explains.

Maulana Rumi (1207–1273), Masnavi

(translated by Mahmoud Sadri)

~*~

PREFACE

(Masoud Rostami)

This book introduces readers a body of poetry whose relation to history and social norms gives it grounding ideas and concepts. What distinguishes each poet from another is their insights that leave room for a series of transformations, and varying degrees of cultural self-confidence, and modernity to name a few. Interestingly, this volume has tried to make space for poets to speak for themselves, even if briefly. The following part is an attempt to introduce, and treat differences in poetic creation.

The cohesion of Ellias Dehnavi's poem The Sages' Spirits is based on recurrent concerns: the indelible memory of martyrdom left on people of Iran; the demonstration that recall pain to be met, overcome and accepted