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| Forugh Farrokhzad |
-Brian Mendonca
Today, students came up with a raft of poets, many of whom we had never heard of before. The undergrad students were negotiating a college course on World Literatures.
Ambitious though the title may seem, I felt it would be interesting to see which poets, according to them, should have been included. They already had Judith Wright, Gabriel Okara, Kishwar Naheed, Shu Ting, and Jean Arasanayagam prescribed on their course.
I asked them to write about the poet they had chosen on their blogs. They should include a poem by the poet. Having done that I asked them to present their chosen poet to the class. They could take their smart phones.
Some spoke with conviction, having being singed by the poems they had encountered. Others read from their phones listlessly spouting what looked like AI-generated content.
Misbah spoke on Forugh Farrokhzad (1934-1967) seen as the rebel poet of Iran. She was only 32 when she passed on in a car crash.
I am a descendant of the trees;
breathing stale air depresses me;
a bird which died advised me to remember the flight;
the ultimate extent of powers is joining
with the bright origin of the sun
and pouring into the understanding of light;
Why should I stop?
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Pic of Forugh Farrokhzad courtesy iranwire.com; poem by Forugh from women.ncr-iran.org
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