In this the author's first stand-alone collection of poetry and translations, Sassan Tabatabai has 'composed a book of delicate mourning, exile, and love.' Voices and scenes from classical literature -- Petrarch, Milton, the Odyssey -- blend with impressions of childhood, fits of romantic longing, and moments of alienation. The wide topical and emotional range of these poems is bound together by the measured, level lines of Tabatabai's verse. The clear and unadorned style of his poetry and translations reveals the author's unspoken respect for language and for the histories which lay behind each word.
Sassan Tabatabai has composed a book of delicate mourning, exile, and love. Ancient Persia and modern Iran harmonize in his vision, as do the ancient poems of Rudaki and Rumi and the contemporary poems of Kadkani in Tabatabai’s translations. Sensuous, rueful and clear, these poems recreate lost worlds in imagination: their Beloved is both a country and a mysterious female figure worthy of the poet’s longing.
— Rosanna Warren
About the author
Born in Tehran, Iran, Sassan Tabatabai has lived in the United States since 1980. As a poet and scholar of medieval Persian poetry, he is the author of Father of Persian Verse: Rudaki and His Poetry. He teaches humanities and Persian literature at Boston University and Boston College, and is Poetry Editor of News from the Republic of Letters.
