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The Love Poems of Ahmad Shamlu

 From Roxana, p.91, translated by Firoozeh Papan-Matin Yet the night was in turmoil,  the sea was battering. Fierce ecstasy, never to be fulfilled, howled through this cold clutter of maddened waves in search of an escaped pleasure ... And I realized that I had found peace, amid the ups and downs of the sea's hasty traffickers,  like a houseless snail finding a shell. I knew that if I threw the lantern into the sea and interpreted the darkness  of the night as no more than my closed eyes—then would I be like the  liberated Buddha who passes through pain with an unruffled heart because  he recognizes it as the leading warrior of Nirvana.
Recent posts

More on the history of Iran: Mani

Intrigued by all these religions I'm reading about. Zoroastrianism still exists today, but Mithraism doesn't. The Wikipedia article linked mentioned they are mystery religions . Read about Manichaeism . "Manichaeism was quickly successful and spread far through Aramaic-speaking regions. It thrived between the third and seventh centuries, and at its height was one of the most widespread religions in the world. Manichaean churches and scriptures existed as far east as China and as far west as the Roman Empire. It was briefly the main rival to early Christianity in the competition to replace classical polytheism before the spread of Islam. Under the Roman Dominate, Manichaeism was persecuted by the Roman state and was eventually stamped out in the Roman Empire." They believed in secret knowledge from personal direct experiences with the divine. In 240 Mani received from the divine the message not to eat meat, drink wine, or sleep with women. He was influenced by Zurvani

Sohrab Sepehri

I'm reading The Oasis of Now , a selection of poems by  Sohrab Sepehri (1928-1980) translated into English. There's a faint ring of Walt Whitman to him, he sings to the multitudes. The bio says he knew some things about Buddhism, which is perhaps fairly rare in Iran, but he died fairly soon after the revolution when things were more open and allowed in Iran. He was also a painter who traveled all over Europe.  I'm really enjoying this poetry book, published in Rochester, by BOA . I couldn't recommend this book more, or this publisher.  I am intrigued by the other poets he's compared to:  Nima Youshij  (1895-1960), Ahmad Shamlou , Mehdi Akhavan-Sales  (1925-2000), and Forough Farrokhzad  (1934-1967) (the one female). My library has a book by Ahmad Shamlou and 2 of Forugh Farrokhzad. She died in a car crash as 32. The link reference has other Persian poets, including  Simin Behbahani (1927-2014). Parvin Etesami (1907-1941). Her mother outlived her by 32 years. She

Split up

I consolidated my blogs into this one, and now I want to unconsolidate, split them up again. First I started a movie blog  to put those places. A music one .  I'm going to have to make a music one, because I want this to remain literature, books, reading. Putting politics back onto a politics blog. Today I unfollowed all the political subreddits on Reddit, and I've withdrawn from Twitter. I'm going to vote and not think about politics ever again. That's not true.  Politics is going to my politics blog . Might as well plug my other blogs. My Buddhist one is my favorite. 

Hi Ren

Watch and listen to this song "Hi Ren" by Ren Gill I've been watching  Elizabeth Zharoff break down the song. Fell in love with Zharoff's analysis, watching all her videos. She has another one on Ren Money Games . She interviews Ren . He's had some health problems that he talks about. He was fairly sick from 21-26. He's 34 now. Sounds like stem cell treatments helped. He's tried many things.  Links Ren discussion on Reddit Ren on Twitter . Some great clips of live music like It's Alright . Or this duet . Instagram YouTube Soundcloud Spotify

The case for Harris

Motley Kamuka Blog endorses Kamala Harris. In general, Trump just wants to lower taxes on the rich, and do nothing, sell whatever influence he can to line his pockets. Apparently the emoluments clause in the constitution has no teeth. Harris has a set of ideas about policy that are fairly middle of the road. In most countries she's would be seen as a centrist. Spin about her radical agendas are exaggerated.  I'm not sure how he got past " grab them by the pussy ", but he did and here we are. Women: Obviously the idea of giving women pregnancy tests at the borders of the state, and then if they come back and don't have a baby, they go to jail, isn't really what most women want. Pick Harris.  I understand if you think abortion is murder, maybe you've been told that by the Catholic church, which has the same ideal of Buddhism that you don't kill--so follow your religion for yourself. Not everyone is Christian or Buddhist or even has a religion. Women are

Memes, images