Painting by Khosrow Hassanzadeh
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Iranian women warriors
It is only our voice that shall remain of us.
Tanha Sedast ke meemanad.
The name we have chosen for our curriculum on Iran is Seda. In Farsi, it means both voice and sound.
The contemporary Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad , translated here by Sholeh Wolpe, offers us insight into the importance of voice, reflection and commitment to continue to work for the future.
Only Voice Remains by Forugh Farrokhzad
Why should I stop, why?
Birds have gone to seek their blue way.
The horizon is horizontal,
movement vertical—a gushing geyser.
Bright stars spin as far as the eye can see.
The Earth repeats itself in space, air tunnels
become connecting canals and day changes
to an entity so vast it cannot be stuffed
into the narrow imaginations of the newspaper worms.
Why should I stop?
The path meanders among life’s tiny veins
and the climate of the moon’s womb will annihilate
the cancerous cells, and in the chemical aura of after-dawn
there will remain only voice-- voice seeping into time.
Why should I stop?
What is a swamp but a spawning ground
for corruption’s vermin?
Swelled corpses pen the morgue’s thoughts,
the cad hides his yellowness in the dark,
and the cockroach
… ah when the cockroach harangues,
why should I stop?
Printer’s lead letters line up in vain.
Lead letters in league cannot salvage petty thoughts.
My essence is of trees; breathing stale air depresses me.
A bird long dead counseled me to remember flight.
Fusion creates the greatest force—
fusion with the sun’s luminescent soul,
comprehension flooding with light.
Windmills eventually warp and rot.
Why should I stop?
I hold to my breasts sheaves of unripe wheat
and give them milk.
Voice, voice, only voice.
The water’s voice, its wish to flow,
the starlight’s voice pouring upon the earth’s female form,
the voice of the egg in the womb congealing into sense,
the clotting together of love’s minds.
Voice, voice, voice, only voice remains.
In a world of runts,
measurements orbit around zero.
Why must I stop?
The four elements alone rule me;
my heart’s charter cannot be drafted
by the provincial government of the blind.
What have I to do with the long feral howls
of the beasts’ genitals?
What have I to do with the slow progress
of a maggot through flesh?
It’s the flowers’ bloodstained history that has committed me to life,
the flowers’ bloodstained history, you hear?
Translation: Sholeh Wolpe
Introduction to Seda
Facts and Figures on Contemporary Iran
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Economy
Energy
Expediency Council
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The Iranian Constitution and Governing Structure
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Photographs of Contemporary Iran--Abdi Sami
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Meidan Emam, Esfahan
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Takht-e Soleyman
Tchogha Zanbil
Proposed UNESCO Heritage Sites for Iran
Armenian Monastic Ensembles of Iran
Bam and its Cultural Landscape
History of Iran
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AD 224-1220
1501-1890
1907-1949
1951-1978
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100 Years of History in Pictures
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2009
Iran Update
An Introduction to the Iranian Reverence for Persian Poetry
Mir Hossein Mousavi on Happenings in the Middle East
President Obama's Norouz Message to Iran
Iranian Literature
Nasir Khusraw (1004-1008)
Omar Khayyam (1048-1131)
Sanāʾī’ (1118-1152)
Attar (1120 - 1220?)
Nezami (1141-1203)
Saadi (1184 – 1283/1291?)
Rumi (1207-1273)
Hafez (1319-1389)
Shahnaz A'lami
Rira Abbasi
Mana Aghaee
Manouchehr Atashi
Simin Behbahani
Houshang Ebtehaj
Zhaleh Esfahani
Parvin E'tesami
Forough Farrokhzad
Bijan Jalali
Sheema Kalbasi
Siavash Kasraie
Mahmud Kianush
Fereydoon Moshiri
Hafez Mousavi
Bänoo Zan: War Talks
Granaz Moussavi
Ziba Jarbassi: Collage 2
Maryam Hooleh
Nader Naderpour
Yadollah Royai
Mehdi Akhavan Sales
Sohrab Sepehri
Abmad Shamlou
Sholeh Wolpé
Nima Yushij
Maps of Iran
Iran and the Middle East
Iran in the World
500 BCE Persian Empire
1592 Stoopendaal Map of Persia
1730 Seuterri Map of Persia
1851 Map of Persia
Territorial Changes 19th and 20th Century
Political Map
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Ethnic Iran
Blank Map
Iranian Literature The Iranian Reader--Fiction
Reza Jula'i (Short Story) The Night Shift
Reza Jula'i (Short Story) The End of Remembrance
Marsha Mehran (Excerpt from Novel) Rosewater and Soda Bread
Morteza Miraftabi (Short Story) The Acquaintance
Morteza Miraftabi (Short Storty) The Planter in a City Window
Gina B. Nahai (Excerpt from Novel) Caspain Rain
Gina Nahai (Excerpt from Novel) Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith
Shahrnush Parsipur (Short Story)The Gentlemen
Kader Abdolah: Iranian Writing in Dutch
The Iran Reader--Non-Fiction
Davar Ardalan's My Name is Iran
Firoozeh Dumas's Funny in Farsi
Shirin Ebadi's Iran Awakening
Shirin Ebadi Nobel Prize Speech
Roya. Hakakian Journey from the Land of No
Shahriar Mandanipour (Essay) Wheatfields or Apple Orchards
Azar Nafisi Things I've Been Silent About: Memories
Azar Nafisi Reading Loita in Tehran
Monir Shahroudy
Iranian Proverbs
Contemporary Iranian Art
Khosrow Hassanzadeh: Iran's "Political Artist"
Shirin Neshat: Exploring Issues of Iran
Persian Music
Traditional Persian Instruments
Traditional Instruments in Persian Paintings
Iranian Classical Music Ensembles
Iran and Cartoons
Iran and Cartoons: 2009 Election
Iran and Cartoons: 2009 Election demonstrations
Iran and Cartoons: Nuclear Issue
Iran and Cartoons: US Iran Relations
Teaching and Learning about Iran
Lesson : The Persepolis Archive (World Savvy Monitor)
Lesson: The Legal Battle Over the Persepolis Archives (World Savvy Monitor)
Lesson: The Iranian Youth Bulge (World Savvy Monitor)
Lesson: Bridge to Iran (Link TV: Television without Borders)
Lesson: Current Background on Iran (Teachable Moment)
Lesson: Iran and the U.S. (Teachable Moment)
Lesson: The Bush Administration Iranian Policy (Teachable Moment)
Lesson: Iran's Nuclear Program (Teachable Moment)
Lesson: Nuclear Weapons Complications (Teachable Moment)
Lesson: Turmoil in Tehran (Teachable Moment)
Lesson: Crackdown on Demonstrators (Teachable Moment)
Annotated Bibliography
History, Culture and Political Understandings
Classical Iran
Contemporary Fiction
Contemporary Non-Fiction: Memoirs
Contemporary Poetry
Iranian (Persian) Themes Written by Western Writers
Graphic Novel
Films and Documentaries
For a Moment, Freedom
Recommended Internet Sites
Iran: YouTube Presentations Worth Seeing
