Project Description
Shirin Razavian
Shirin Razavian is a Tehran-born British poet who has appeared in Poetry London, Index on Censorship, Exiled Writers Magazine, Agenda and Persian Book Review among others. She has published 5 Farsi and English poetry collections in the UK, the latest of which was Which Shade of Blue featuring original works and translations of her work by the poet and translator of Russian literature, Robert Chandler.
Publications:
“Words to thoughts” Selection of poems in Farsi -1995
“The Sad Universality of Oyster” Selection of poems in Farsi- 1999
“Sweet Sonnets” Selection of 50 Ghazals in Farsi – 2005
“Free Fall” Selection of poems in English – 2008
“Which Shade of Blue?” Selection of poems in Farsi & English – 2010
Shirin has been accredited for being one of the very few Iranian poets of her generation to have captured the traditional Persian poetry and write Ghazals with comfort and passion.
For more information please visit: www.ShirinRazavian.com
Shadow Dance
My shadow kissed your hands’ shadow
as the sun set.
Your hands’ shadow
put the shadow of a grape
in my shadow’s mouth.
The beat of my heart and your heart
broke the shadow of silence.
The shadow of our happiness
walks on long legs
over the shadow of our hopelessness.
Shirin Razavian
Translated Robert Chandler & Shirin Razavian
Under the weather
Once again
I pull on a shell of silence
and cast short spells
of melancholy
over myself.
Heavy rain –
and the thunder speaks
straight from my heart.
My feet are wet –
and my heart goes out
to the lone sock in the muddy puddle,
and my heart goes out
to the cold red hands
of the boy selling fish,
to the cloudy eyes
of the addict looking for shelter,
to everyone whose heart
feels
under the weather.
Shirin Razavian
Translated by Robert Chandler