Gedicht
Mehrdad Arefani
Port
He returns a few Shahsavarswith the necktie of a noose
a few scratches on the forehead
stapled in the dossier
Shall I dance on a crane above all these fists
or shall I play hide to all these seeks?
I should go to Shahsavar a little to promenade in Paris
grow tall before the Mona Lisa
rub cloud-hips against the Eiffel Tower
The dawn is darker than the prostitute loitering in the bosom of dusk
A student from Albania
Eastern Europe or Asia
makes no difference
To become a doctor in Uganda an engineer in Nigeria
or a diamond in the Congo
The mayor puts up roadblocks
The dustman urinates behind the university wall
and smokes on the sly in Ramadan
This forest does not smell of timber
it is oil
scattered on the forehead
and water’s fingers stroke the tankers’ hips
© Translation: 2012, Abol Froushan
Shahsavar, a port on the Caspian sea, is Arefani’s birthplace.
“Dance on a crane” is an allusion to a public hanging.
PORT
© 2010, Mehrdad Arefani
From: From Tree to Tree
Publisher: Dena - Belgium, Brussels
From: From Tree to Tree
Publisher: Dena - Belgium, Brussels
Gedichten
Gedichten van Mehrdad Arefani
Close
PORT
From: From Tree to Tree
Port
He returns a few Shahsavarswith the necktie of a noose
a few scratches on the forehead
stapled in the dossier
Shall I dance on a crane above all these fists
or shall I play hide to all these seeks?
I should go to Shahsavar a little to promenade in Paris
grow tall before the Mona Lisa
rub cloud-hips against the Eiffel Tower
The dawn is darker than the prostitute loitering in the bosom of dusk
A student from Albania
Eastern Europe or Asia
makes no difference
To become a doctor in Uganda an engineer in Nigeria
or a diamond in the Congo
The mayor puts up roadblocks
The dustman urinates behind the university wall
and smokes on the sly in Ramadan
This forest does not smell of timber
it is oil
scattered on the forehead
and water’s fingers stroke the tankers’ hips
© 2012, Abol Froushan
Sponsors
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère