“My first ever journey started”

نخستين سفرم
با اسبي آغاز شد
-که در جیبم جاي می گرفت –
از اتاق تا بالکن.

سفر کوتاهی بود
اما من درياها را پشت سر گذاشتم
شهرهاي پر ستاره را
از ابتداي جهان
تا انتهاي جهان رفتم
و اين سفر
تنها سفر بی خطر من بود.

 


Rasool Yoonan, a poet, playwright, novelist, and translator, was born in 1969 in Urmia, Iran. His debut collection of poetry, Good Day My Dear, was published in 1998. Further collections include Concert in Hell, I Was a Bad Boy, Carrying the Piano Down the Stairs of an Icy Hotel, Be Careful; Ants Are Coming, and Skiing on the Housetops. Yoonan’s most recent publications are three chapbooks of micro fiction: You Idiot! We’re Dead; Damn It, Pick Up the Phone; and See You in Hell.
Yoonan’s poetry has also been translated to Armenian and French.


 

My first ever journey started

with a horse that would fit
in my pocket—from my bedroom
to the balcony.

It was a short journey,
but I passed through the seas,
the starry cities.

I traveled from the beginning
of the universe to the end of it,
and that was my only
safe journey.

 


Siavash Saadlou was born and raised in Iran. He is a writer, literary translator, and teacher. Saadlou is the authorized translator of Rasool Yoonan, the minimalist Iranian poet. His translations have appeared in Washington Square Review, Indian Review, Visions International, Blue Lyra Review, Writing Disorder, and Asymptote. He is an MFA creative writing candidate and a teaching fellow at Saint Mary’s College of California.