The Graduate Society Foundation Daneshvaran
Azmoun-e-Bargozidegy
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A Message from Dr. Karimi Hakak on “Azmoun-e-Bargozidegy”
In the past centuries, many Jewish [Iranian] poets aimed at
describing the Jewish religion in a manner that would bring
harmony between the Jews and Muslims. In the recent times too,
the Iranian Jewish poets, side by side with other Iranian poets
have participated in the social and political struggles of
the Iranian people and advocated concepts of liberty and development,
and the rule of law and democracy. These days, within
Iranian expatriates, by and by, and here and there, the Jewish
Iranian poets find their own voice, and in their poems, insist
on principals that bring forth a new honesty and guilelessness. As
if the contemporary Jewish Iranian poets are telling their
non-Jewish countrymen, “This is how I see the
world. This is how I think, and I want to
talk to you from here, from my thoughts and from my perspective.
Come, you who speak my language, and answer me. We may reach
a united goal, or not. But at least let’s respect each
other’s word.” I have seen this specific quality
in Jahangir Sedaghatfar’s word more than any other Jewish
poet’s and in his “Azmoun-e-Bargozidegy” [the
Trial of the Chosen] more than any other of his work.
In “The Trial of the Chosen”, as seen in the
title, the poems are centered on Jewish historical mythology
passing through numerous phases from the start of Creation
up to the present times. The poems involve “The Book
of Creation”, “The Book of Exodus”, “The
Ten Commandments”, “The daughters of Zion”, “Zionism”, “Crystalnacht”,
and “Holocaust.” He talks of the reactions of today’s
intellectuals toward the issues of the Promised Land and the
State of Israel. On all these concentrated concepts, you can
join your voice with that of the poet, or you can challenge
him in your own poems. But you cannot ignore this new word
in Persian poetry and walk away in indifference. It is in the
palpitating heart of this poetry that you can find what it
means to be a Jewish Iranian today. These are poems that you
have to think about, and you have to respond to. Your response
can be sympathy and agreement, or disagreement and discourse.
And I have no doubt that “The Trial of the Chosen” will
invoke both these responses, and maybe more unpredictable modes
of response.
The poetic form in this collection of poems is closely connected
with the poet’s ethnic identity. For example, in the
first two poems “The Trial of the Chosen” and “The
Covenant”, the technique of talking to God face to face
pioneers a new mode of composing that is reminiscent of discourses
of Noah and Abraham with Jehovah in the Old Testament. The
form is different from the Persian poetic tradition where talking
to God is mostly recorded in the format of “Monajats.”.
These two poems are emotionally charged and portray the poet
as reprimanding his God. Some of the poems that follow reflect
the need of the poet, and possibly the need of his fellow-believers
to establish a dialogue with their other countrymen. “Kooch” [Immigration]
and “Aye Ham-Tabar” [O’, My Kin]
can be categorized as such. In many poems of this collection,
the rise and fall in the form closely reflects the moments
of rise and fall in the history of the Jewish people. In each
line and in each image you see this consistency between form
and content. As if the poetry and the tradition, hand in hand,
rise out of the pages of history, to stand full-height in front
of the reader, to tell of their historical pilgrimage and unbearable
trials; but not with a bowed head, but with pride, like what
we see in “Ressidan” [Arriving].
In one word, “Azmoun-e-Bargozidegy” is a welcome
work that makes a significant contribution to the poetry of
Iranian expatriates and is one of the last words in Persian
poetry. In this collection, you can see the “form” of
Shamloo and Akhavan’s poetry searching the tales of Jewish
long history of pain and torture in the back allies of Oodlajan.
Here you can see an architect, staring into magnificent arches
remained from his forefathers and contemplating restoration.
More importantly, in this collection, you can hear a man, whose
voice breaks when talking of the “night of broken glass,” reviving
the memory of taps on glass that broke a nation.
Welcome to his anger and uproar. Welcome to his demand for
justice and to his broken voice.
Ahmad Karimi Hakak
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