Poem
Mimi Khalvati
On a Line from Forough Farrokhzad
On a Line from Forough Farrokhzad
On a Line from Forough Farrokhzad
It had rained that day. It had primed a worldwith gold, pure gold, wheatfield, stubble and hill.
It had limned the hills as a painter would,
an amateur painter, but the hills were real.
It had painted a village lemon and straw,
all shadow and angles, cockerel, goats and sheep.
It had scattered their noises, bleats and blahs,
raising a cloud, a white dog chasing a jeep.
It had travelled through amber, ochre, dust
and dust the premise of everything gold,
dust the promise of green. Green there was
but in the face of a sun no leaf could shield.
It had rained that day. It was previous,
previous as wind to seed. O wild seed,
as these words proved. ‘The wind will carry us’
– bad ma ra khahad bord – and it did.
Reproduced by kind permission of the author and Carcanet.
© 2007, Mimi Khalvati
From: The Meanest Flower
Publisher: Carcanet, Manchester
From: The Meanest Flower
Publisher: Carcanet, Manchester
Mimi Khalvati
(Iran (Islamic Republic of), 1944)
Mimi Khalvati was born in Tehran, Iran, but grew up in England, and has made London her home. She was educated at the University of Neuchâtel, in Switzerland, and at the Drama Centre and SOAS in London. Her poetry, published by Carcanet, has amassed critical praise and been translated into nine languages. The Financial Times named her latest collection, The Meanest Flower (2007), as one of thei...
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Poems of Mimi Khalvati
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On a Line from Forough Farrokhzad
It had rained that day. It had primed a worldwith gold, pure gold, wheatfield, stubble and hill.
It had limned the hills as a painter would,
an amateur painter, but the hills were real.
It had painted a village lemon and straw,
all shadow and angles, cockerel, goats and sheep.
It had scattered their noises, bleats and blahs,
raising a cloud, a white dog chasing a jeep.
It had travelled through amber, ochre, dust
and dust the premise of everything gold,
dust the promise of green. Green there was
but in the face of a sun no leaf could shield.
It had rained that day. It was previous,
previous as wind to seed. O wild seed,
as these words proved. ‘The wind will carry us’
– bad ma ra khahad bord – and it did.
Reproduced by kind permission of the author and Carcanet.
From: The Meanest Flower
On a Line from Forough Farrokhzad
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