My Duty Was to Speak

This event has been postponed.  A new date will be announced in the near future to the Iranian Studies newsletter.

Join us for a poetry reading and conversation with award-winning poet and editor Abdolali Azimi.  Event is in Persian.

“I wish there was quietude; it’s a time of noise and commotion. Silence is a gem hard or even impossible to find. Lovers of language, are loveless now, otherwise the Persian language is in its prime. One can even plant ancient and everyday words side by side; beautiful, clear and articulate, without any explanation or description, it flourishes, takes and bears fruit.

I wish it were possible to sincerely sit and only speak and write. Our opportunity—let me be more precise, my opportunity—was tight and tart. I had to say, and I said it.”

“When one's last name is Azimi (great), the best first name is also Abdolali (servant of the great Ali). In fact, I was born on February 3, 1958, but my birth certificate notes February 13, 1957.

My birthplace is Abarkuh, which is known as Abarghoo. I studied there until my arrest (1975). I received my diploma in prison and afterwards, I was admitted to the University of Tehran for Philosophy, but with the events of the cultural revolution, I returned to Abarghoo and took up farming. Until 1990, despite the reopening of the university, I was prohibited from continuing my education. After obtaining permission, I changed my university and field of study and studied French Language and Literature at Shahid Beheshti University.

My real university began when, after getting acquainted with writer and poet friends, including Akbar Sardouzami, Morteza Saqfian, Kamran Bozorgnia, and others, I met Houshang Golshiri and was accepted into the Thursday gatherings. I started with stories and became acquainted with poetry in 1987. I have published two poetry collections, "Ba Nam-e Gol (With the Name of the Flower)" and "Az Goghrafiyaye Man (From My Geography)," and every publication where Golshiri was the editor-in-chief, such as Mofid, Zendeh-Rood, and Karnameh, I was the poetry editor as well.  

Since the summer of 2024, I have returned to Abarkooh and live in my family home along with the cats, chickens, and roosters, and besides poetry, I have no other occupation or responsibility.”

Photo credit: Magameh Parvaneh

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