Saturday, October 3, 2020

Sa’eed Tavana’ee Marvi : “The Barnacled Cliff Part IV” translated by Khashayar Mohammadi




sound of a subway station. the cacophony of passengers. 
subway car doors opening. the announcer says:

Next station White Swans
this train goes towards Celestial gates
          with a demonic power
          and a woman in love
          in a smoke-filled room
          at 6 am

the narrator exits the train. he is now home, in a tall tower overlooking a golf course, and a bit farther: The Ocean.
all is quiet. we only hear the wind and the weather report on TV

in the evening
clouds shall be painted  in Turquoise
high up, from the balcony
I gaze at the endless Ocean
ships and seagulls
none will bring me back to you

it’s raining
indoors all is well
the night is resting its cheeks
on the cold window
with rogue raindweller streaks:
a memory of your hair
sublimating into rain






Sa'eed Tavana'ee Marvi is a poet and translator born in the city of Mashhad in 1983. His books include The Woman With Chlorophylic eyes, Verses of Death: An Anthology of American Poetry and a translation of Richard Brautigan's Tokyo Montana Express.

Khashayar Mohammadi is a queer, Iranian born, Toronto-based Poet, Writer, Translator and Photographer. He is the author of poetry Chapbooks Moe’s Skin by ZED press 2018, Dear Kestrel by knife | fork | book 2019 and Solitude is an Acrobatic Act by above/ground press 2020. His debut poetry collection Me, You, Then Snow is forthcoming with Gordon Hill Press in Spring 2021.