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| Queen of Spades - screen print - 2022, Mahdieh Farhadkiaei "In Iranian culture, women have historically cut their hair off in mourning, and over the past week we have seen videos of women snipping their locks at the funerals of loved ones killed by security forces. The act has also become a symbol of bodily autonomy and resistance against the oppressive regime." - Via the 2022 Guardian article: Something in me sparked’: the Iranian women using art to protest. |
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in love with her geometry books.
I am forlorn
and imagine it is possible to take the garden to a hospital.
I imagine I imagine
And the garden’s heart has swollen in the heat
of this sun, its mind slowly drains of its lush memories."
Often compared to Sylvia Plath, her poetry has a similar sense of urgency and rebellion. Their lives shared a similar tragic cast. Unlike Plath, however, Farrokhzad's material can be wildly erotic and, at the same time, in the Persian tradition of Rumi, the Rose & the Nightingale and the Language of the Birds, strangely mystical.*
I am particularly moved by the line "I fear the age that has lost its heart."
I fear that age is now.
(Continued below the jump...)
Forugh Farrokhzad died in a car accident on February 13 (or 14) at the age of 32. Some say she died instantly. But, as it happened, 50 years later her last lover revealed that she died in his arms, presumably in the hospital.
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| From a series of paintings entitled The Sick Rose - 2008-2022, Azadeh Razaghdoost. |
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liTwo days after Valentine's Day of the Dead (Part I) was posted, American citizens found themselves, once again, forcibly enmeshed in a Middle Eastern war no sane person really wanted. In the not-too-distant past we were involved in a similar, unpopular war with disastrous results (and lasting damage for all involved). Inset right, war games, 2003: Saddam Hussein as the Ace of Spades from a rather grisly deck of "most-wanted" Iraqi playing cards issued to US soldiers. Each card displayed the picture of a wanted Iraqi official on it. Of the 52, roughly half were executed, or died in custody, Hussein included.
But, Trump's war with Iran began with a very unfortunate synchronicity. On February, 28, 2026, the very same day a tyrant - the alleged leader of a far-right, religious regime - met his own demise, an elementary school building in Minab, Iran, was likewise destroyed, killing over a hundred school children.
"156 people were killed in the strike; the victims included 120 students (73 boys and 47 girls), 26 teachers (all of whom were women), seven parents of students (four men and three women), a school bus driver, a pharmacy technician from a nearby clinic, and a six-month-old fetus."
(Note: I began creating this post weeks ago. The number of human casualties has since increased to 178.)
Early reports indicated a girl's school had been struck. So horrifying was this story that it overshadowed the otherwise welcome death of a leader who chose to massacre thousands of his own country's citizens rather than abandon an outdated dress code.
However, the country at fault for the school bombing remained in dispute - although painfully obvious to some - and the report eventually fell off the radar... along with the Epstein files. (Also see BBC article). It is likely to continue in the same direction.**
To put a face on a tragedy (that should've been prevented), I've included a lovely face found in a Guardian article. Inset right is a family photograph of Zahra Behroozi. She was eight years old. There was no reason for her death; she was no one's enemy. She was a little child who loved paper craft. She may have even had some of her work posted on the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school website. (Translated from the Farsi, Shajareh Tayyebeh means "the good (or perfect) tree."
PBS interviewed Reyhandeh, the young sister of another child lost in the bombing. Contrary to what mot Americans might expect, she has "hate in her heart for what happened to her sister, but not for the American people.
"It's just the government that's cruel and dirty. Most people in America are good. They know this is not right."
If only all Americans were as wise as Reyhandeh, there would be no war!
As to why the co-ed school was first identified as a "girl's school." The reality is that there were two schools in one building; one for girls and one for boys. The whole building was destroyed. Catastrophe was not, in this case, gender-specific.
But, know that "girls" play a significant role in Iran these days. You might say, they are front, left, right and center of a budding counter-revolution in Iran which attempts to push it's culture forward into the 21st century again. Many of them are exiled Iranians trying to save a nation they love. They are a new wave of women - joined by a new wave of men - whose needs are the fundamental requirements of all young adults: those which allow them to grow, thrive and experience life in their individual ways... becoming the creators of tomorrow's Persian culture. They should be encouraged,; not slaughtered.
It began in 2022 with the suspicious death of 22 year old Mahsa (Jina) Amini, who was simply going about her business one day when she was intercepted by the "morality police," the Guidance Patrol. Allegedly, her mandatory head scarf (hijab) was askew. (?!) (Yes, it really is that bad in Iran these days.)
She was never seen alive again. Although authorities claimed she had a heart attack, judging by the bruising on her body, it is assumed she was beaten and (possibly) a blow to her head may have resulted in her death; a death which reignited an issue which arose after 1979 when a different revolution had paved the way for the further weaponization of religion and the subjugation of women under "religious" law.
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So, the present war in Iran is actually two wars. In one, its political regime must defend itself from outside forces. In the other, its citizens must defend themselves and their culture from the same political regime. But, in essence, this dilemma is found all over the world. There is, it seems, a Tyrant's Playbook.***
The classic image inset left is the powerful work of Ghazaleh Rastgar depicting a powerful woman riding a powerful Simurgh. The woman holds a banner which reads “Zan, Zindagi, Azaadi” (Women, Life, Freedom). Three images of power. Three words of power. Three's the charm.
One takeaway from the February 28 synchronicity is that while the "girl's school" meme and the slogan of the protesters might seem to lead to a feminist-vs-the patriarchy territory the reality is quite different. Both boys and girls, men and women have died. The Rose is dual-gendered.
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This hypothetical river - with its many tributaries - is composed of many things: word of mouth, films, books, music, television shows, photographs and, for some, memories of firsthand experiences in recent or current wars. In all cases, human emotion keeps this river flowing. But, yes, this tragic flow of inhumanity is also kept alive in artistic form... conversely, by those who's overwhelming goal is to create a thing of beauty.
Often stories of war are infused (and made more beautiful) by tragic love tales. One merely has to assess the long list of popular films which appeared in the past 100 years! But, that's just one side of the story.
Even in wartime art must emerge and prevail; especially poetry:
“You cannot read this poem if you were not shot in the eyes.”
- A harrowing line from a contemporary poet who lives within the belly of the beast, Tehran-based poet Ali Asadollahi. He addresses those blinded by the security forces who deliberately aimed for the eyes of protesters. In this interview he goes on to say:
"Censorship is a severe issue in Iran. All literary works, including poems, are inspected and dissected word by word and line by line by agents of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Only when they find nothing in opposition to the interests of the current political system will they allow publication."
"Artists at Risk Connection (ARC) - strongly condemns the reported killings of artists by police and militias in Iran, amid nationwide popular protests that began on 28 December 2025. Despite severe restrictions on information, including a government-imposed internet and mobile phone blackout, credible human rights organizations and international media report that thousands of civilians are confirmed to have been killed."
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