Ghazal Games

Poems

Roger Sedarat

Publication Year: 2011

As an Iranian American poet, Roger Sedarat fuses Western and Eastern traditions to reinvent the classical Persian form of the ghazal. For its humor as well as its spirituality, the poems in this collection can perhaps best be described as “Wallace Stevens meets Rumi.” Perhaps most striking is the poet’s use of the ancient ghazal form in the tradition of the classical masters like Hafez and Rumi to politically challenge the Islamic Republic of Iran’s continual crackdown on protesters. Not since the late Agha Shahid Ali has a poet translated the letter as well as the spirit of this form into English, using musicality and inventive rhyme to extend the reach of the ghazal in a new language and tradition.

Published by: Ohio University Press

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Book Details

E-ISBN-13: 9780821443750
Print-ISBN-13: 9780821419502

Publication Year: 2011

Ghazal Games

Cover Art

Frontmatter

Acknowledgements

Contents

Ghazal Game #1

Sonnet Ghazal

Ghazal Game #2: Pin the Tail on the Middle Eastern Donkey

Inverted Ghazal

The Persian Poet’s Recipe for Qormeh Sabzi

Ghazal Game #3: True or False

The Beard

The Sword

For My Beloved

Salads Are for Girls

Ghazal Game #4: Matching

American

Ghazal Game #5: Product Placement

Martyrs of Iran

Chemotherapy

Vertical Ghazal

My Father’s Face

Ghazal Game #6: Hangman

Basho and Hafez: Japanese-Persian Fusion

The Goddamn Scale

The Train

Texas

Ghazal Game #7: Tic Tac Toe

Postmodern Ekphrasis Ghazal

Protest Ghazal #1

Protest Ghazal #2

Protest Ghazal #3

Ghazal for Neda

Perfect Translation

Cold Feet

Ghazal Game #8: An Exercise in Tone

Facebook

Ghazal Game #9: Illustrate the Comic Strip

Gazelle in a Ghazal

Ya Baba

Dubai

Dramatic Crime Scene Ghazal

Ghazal Game #10: Truth or Dare

Moley

Farsi

Chador Bat, a Qasideh Ballad

Ghazal Game #11: Spin the Bottle

Gus

We

Ghazal Game #12: Know Your Shakespeare

Stone

Mixed Metaphor

Found Ghazal

Disease of Self

Vampire God

Trapped in Form

Jar in Shiraz

Sedarat

Research Areas

Recommend

Subject Headings

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