A celebration of Persian voices and talent

II., from The White Plain by Payam Feili, translated by George Reiner

Translation

II., from The White Plain by Payam Feili

Translated by George Reiner
““brother” / everyone says / so - and - so little person / lost their heart / to you”

II., from The White Plain
by Payam Feili
Translated by George Reiner

“baby boy, oh

baby boy”

                  like, your eyebrows’ crooked arch
                  is the genesis arch of mankind’s survival

                  like, the rock you touch
                  afterwards is a real gold coin

“brother”

                  everyone says
                                                                                so - and - so little person
                                                                                          lost their heart
                                                                                                                                                to you
                  oh god they’re clue -
                                                                      less of my heart

“brother”

                  our hundred year old wine

                  when you -
                                               less is power -
                                                                                   less.

The White Plain was first published in Persian by Nogaam Publishers in 2013.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Payam Feili is an Iranian poet, activist, and writer with eight works published: three collections of poems, Sun Platform, Hasanak, and The White Plain; three novels, Towers and Ponds, I grow green, I bear fruit; Figs, and A planet whose only inhabitants are butterflies; and two collections of short stories, The Purpleness of Purple and The Speech of the Waters. These works are considered a forbidden subject in Iran, but in recent years, and especially outside Iran, they have been welcomed by a Persian-speaking audience. Feili is currently based in Haifa, Israel.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

George Reiner is a poet, translator, and writer based in London. His work can be found in Berfrois and Under a Warm Green Linden, and he has contributed texts for project spaces such as South London Gallery, London, ERGO Collective space, Athens, Capela da Boa Viagem, Madeira, and forthcoming texts for Balcony, Lisbon, IKLECTIK, London and CasaPiena, Sicily. His work interrogates animality, hospitality, translation, and sexuality by mythopoetic relationalities and lyrical academica. With Penny Burkett, they have published ‘cruising for lavs’ which explores queer relations and experiences in Polari.

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