Poems from a Land of Wonders

"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." [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 4o'clockslonely" [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]