Motley Kamuka

Song of a Captive Bird: A Novel by Jasmin Darznik is a novelization of Forough Farrokhzad, which they spell Forugh Farrokhzad.  The Tragedy of Sohrab and Rostam by Abolqasem Ferdowsi translated by Jerome W. Clinton Let Us Relive In The Beginning Of The Cold Season by Forugh Farrokhzad The Love Poems of Ahmad Shamlu translated and introduction by Firoozeh Papan-Matin. Axworthy History of Iran (2016) The Oasis of Now by Sohrab Sepehri Khājeh Shams-od-Dīn Moḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shīrāzī or just Hafez Want to read list: Rumi Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Nima Youshij  (1895-1960),  Ahmad Shamlou ,  Mehdi Akhavan-Sales  (1925-2000) Nizami Ganjavi  (1141-1209) Omar Khayyam  (1048-1131)

Wikipedia spells her name Forugh Farrokhzad , pronounced FOR-ugh Far-ROHK-zad. My paperback of Let Us Relive In The Beginning Of The Cold Season compares her to Shakespeare in a quote by Medhi Jami . I hate to say this but I think Farrokhzad gives liberals a template on how to survive four years, to just enjoy your life. Dealing with female desire in Iran. She was sexual. This is a problem in present day Iran. She uses the confessional tone and moves towards the universal.  Her quick biography is that she was married young, had a son and then divorced. Her husband won custody of her son, and she was depressed and got shock therapy. Triumph of the spirit, she fights on and continues, writing poetry books, directing a documentary, living her life. She tragically dies in a car accident at age 32.  NYT: "After the overthrow of Iran’s secular monarchy in 1979, the Islamic Republic banned her poetry for almost a decade. But that censorship only elevated her appeal to new gener...

A young friend in another country said he didn't know what Saturday Night Live was. I know there's a movie out about it called Saturday Night (2024). David Ehrlich is the best movie reviewer I know, here's his take on the movie about SNL. First skit that came to mind was:  Matt Foley: Van Down By The River Jane You Ignorant Slut came to mind. Cheeseburger, cheeseburger . Lisa from Temecula Roseanne Roseannadanna on Smoking Reddit asks what's the best skit. I had to look up quite a few, it's obviously a different generation answering the question now.

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. This excellent book  The Love Poems of Shamlu has a supportive essay by Papan-Matin, who is a professor in Seattle at the University of Washington. 

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...