Milkvetch and Violets

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Mohammad Reza Shafi'i-Kadkani is a contemporary Iranian poet, literary critic, editor, author, and translator born in 1939. His nature poetry, which comprise most of the poems in this book, are harbingers of hope. His wildflowers and birds anticipate the arrival of spring. His milkvetch contemplates its predicament but finds a way to convey its message through the breeze. His wintersweet outsmarts the drought; his mountain osier, pine and petunia are the songs of life; his rain cleanses the earth and purifies the words; his poppy is reckless, his sea fearless; his jasmines and sweetbriars are miraculous. Kadkani is at once a modern poet and a classical one, well versed in both traditions. His themes, language, and style are unique, fusing the old with the new, the classic with the modern.

Mojdeh Bahar was born in 1973 in Iran to a family of poets and writers. Her parents emigrated to the U.S. when she was 14. Although she is a patent lawyer by profession, she continues her deep interest in Persian poetry. This is her first book of translations from one of her favorite contemporary Persian poets.