Introuding "Seven Valleys of Love" By Sheema Kalbasi

What happens when an Iranian-Danish woman who has traversed many cultures and passed many borders (Iran, Pakistan, India, Denmark, Berlin, etc.) comes to America and finds her 'American spirit'? You get spirited poetry that is antithesis of power behind oppression of all stripes committed by governments and cultural trappings of your own mind.

Sheema Kalbasi's latest book,"The Seven Valleys of Love" is due out in Fall. The title of this anthology of Iranian women's poetry, translated into English by Sheema Kalbasi, refers to the narrative of the medieval Persian allegory Mantegh ot-Tayr (Conference of the Birds) written by Farid od-Din Attar . His works were the inspiration of Rumi and many other mystic poets. Attar, along with Sanaie were two of the greatest influences on Rumi in his Sufi views. Rumi has mentioned both of them with the highest esteem several times in his poetry. Rumi praises Attar as such:

"Attar roamed the seven cities of love -- We are still just in one alley".

The Conference of Birds is a Persian mythological allegory, in which a group of thirty birds embark on a journey to meet the majestic and mysterious Si-morgh – a mythological giant bird symbolizing wisdom. Instead of finding the Si-morgh as such, however, the birds experience something ostensibly more poignant: they undergo the Sufi concept of Fana (Annihilation). At the end of the tale, as a consequence of enduring the arduous journey and traversing the Seven Valleys of Love, the birds have somewhat unwittingly effaced their selves (or egos); and have, as a result, unified to constitute an assembly of thirty birds, that is – in Persian – si (thirty) morgh (bird/s). The ordinary birds have, in other words, become the legendary Si-morgh in and of themselves.

Many of the poets presented in this volume have experienced journeys similar to those of the parabolic birds; and it can be said that these authors, by the virtue of being women in an intransigently and institutionally harsh patriarchal society such as Iran, have too had their egos threatened (although by no means 'annihilated'), and that they too have succeeded in not only surviving (though not all did survive) the travails and brutalities of sexism but have also found a kind of love, solidarity and inspiration that has resulted in passionate and provocative poetry.



One of the other great strengths of Ms Kalbasi's work is her decision to present lesser-known poets in place of such well-known figures as Forugh Farrokhzad, Simin Behbahani and Parvin Etesami. This editorial decision is visionary and courageous. By bringing new and/or marginalized poets to an international readership, Kalbasi has broken one of the most stifling taboos of poetry anthologies – that of presenting only the famous/classic 'public' poets – and has, as a result, opened a new front in giving voice to female artists usually denied exposure by unapologetically sexist and/or elitist culture industries in Iran as well as the Anglophone and Anglophobe world.

The Seven Valleys of Love comprises poems from medieval Arabic/Turkish ruled Persia; as well as poems from the independent unitary Iranian kingdoms of the Safavid and Ghajar monarchs; as well as works by modernists and post-modernists of the Pahlavi Dynasty and the Islamic Republic. Included are also poems written in Persian by members of the considerable Iranian diaspora communities.

Kalbasi's selection cuts across not only chronological divides but also aesthetical and ideological chasms. Some of the poems here are versified, others are free-formed/prosaic; some are romantic/erotic in a broad sense, others speak to the specific socio-political contexts in which they were articulated.

Though written in diverse contexts and on varied experiences, the poems vindicate this fundamental aspect of poetry that it is a medium that helps individual regain his/her faith in one's own humanity and the Godliness within. These poems have become the collective unconscious of Iranian women throughout the ages and are manifested in their everyday lives as warriors who have not and will not accept deeply-rooted misogyny at a baton point ( as witnessed in the news lately) as their ultimate fate.


If you're interested you can preorder by e-mailing her at iranianwoman@gmail.com.