Elegance in concision, eloquence in simplicity.
[ spotlight ] Bijan Jalali was born in 1928 in Tehran, where he received his elementary and secondary education. For several years he studied physics at the University of Tehran and natural sciences in Paris and Toulouse. Ultimately, his passion for poetry led him to obtain a bachelor's degree in French literature from the University of Tehran. Over the course of his professional life until his retirement in 1981, Jalali taught English and French, consulted with the Ministry of Culture's Museum of Anthropology, and worked for Tehran's Petrochemical Organization as a translator. In 1999, he passed away in the city of his birth.
my poems
have not stepped
further than joy
and sorrow
the same joy and sorrow
that bring me to
you
Jalali's first collection of poetry was published in the early 1960s, later than most of his contemporaries. Nine volumes of his work have been released: Days (1962), Our Hearts and the World (1965), Color of Waters (1971), Water and Sun (1983), Play of Light: Selected Poems (1990), Dailies (1995), About Poetry (1998), Encounters (2001), and Verse of Silence: A Selection of Unpublished Poems (2002).
I have something
to say that I have yet
to write
for it is whiter
than paper
Poetics and lyricism developed simultaneously in the Persian literary tradition. Consequently, poetry has been conceptualized and described to Persian readers as lyrical. Simin Behbahani (b. 1927), a distinguished voice in Iranian literature, has credited Jalali with changing the mode of perception of traditional poetry readers toward sher-e sepid ("white," or free, verse), an evolving tradition in Persian poetry that does not adhere to regular schemes of rhyme and meter. In terms of composition, Jalali's poetry bears no similarities to classical verse and very few to sher-e no (modern verse). The reader does not encounter dazzling diction or complicated verbiage, but an unadorned, straightforward phraseology expressed through a lighthearted and unpretentious voice. Jalali's eloquence resides not in complexity and sophistication but in simplicity. His verse is filled with lifelike, unemphatic narratives.
cleansing
in the sound
of waves
the sea
for long appears
in uproar
and I am
a pebble
resting on seabed
In his introductory essay, "On the Components of Rhetorical Analysis," the prominent poet and scholar Mohammad Reza Shafi'i Kadkani (b. 1939) asserts that classical literary critics did not examine the overall structure of a poem, but rather focused on each beyt, a metrical unit in Perso-Arabic poetry more or less equivalent to the line in English poetry. In contemporary Persian poetry, poems are not assessed on the basis of each line. Kadkani further argues that a poem may not employ any literary devices, yet still masterfully convey a message that both resonates meaningfully with the poet's readers and transcends their time and place. Jalali's verse departs from qualities of the classical tradition. There is no reliance on figures of speech or literary devices such as hyperbole. Jalali skillfully makes use of a great body of imagery, strengthened by his sharp observations and brevity. His body of work has redefined the role of aesthetics in Persian poetry by placing an elegantly simple and brief form of expression at the heart of the poetic process.
how much of a poet
does one need to be
to see
or to recite
a flower
An extension of his personality, Jalali's imagination is gentle and peaceful. "When you met him, and if you did not know he was a poet, you would never be able to find out. He never talked about it; although he always engaged you in a deep discussion about many things," writes Goli Emami, a distinguished writer and translator. Jalali has dealt with enduring despair, largely due to the heartbreaking death of his adopted son, a tragedy from which he never recovered. Remarkably, Jalali's poetry is profoundly at peace with the world.
looking at it
carefully -- a flower
is everything
and it seems
that the world is big
staring at us
with its astonished
bright eyes
All the same, his pain remains tangible and heartfelt, which gives the serenity of his verse more depth. For instance:
I entrust my sorrow
to words
that ripple
like a sea
that drowns me
One of the most dynamic elements of Jalali's verse is the place of dialogue and the absence of authority, the latter defined as the poet's lack of judgment. Readers are given intellectual space to freely probe their unique points of view. In Encounters, published posthumously, Jalali writes, "There exists in my poems a continuous dialogue, at times with God, the world, or nature. In this regard, these poems always possess a dark and a bright side, but their common factor is the continuation of thought at large." Jalali turns his thoughts and observations into short narratives; many of his poems would work perfectly as the beginning or concluding sentences of a novel: "only possibilities smiled / and passed me by / leaving me / befallen / to impossibilities." Another example:
It was for you
my long-enduring silence
and it is for you
now that I disclose
the silence of my past
History is not at all present in Jalali's verse. His disregard for historical developments and events sets him apart from many of his contemporaries who adhered to the poetry of commitment (littérature engagée). The theory of commitment, which declares that the artist has a responsibility to society, was circulated before and after the Iranian Revolution -- prevalent in the works of Kadkani, Ahmad Shamlu (1925-2000), Saeed Soltanpour (1940-81), Mohammad Mokhtari (1942-98), and others. Labeled as gheyr-e moteahed (noncommitted), poets such as Sohrab Sepehri (1928-80) and Jalali were dismissed by some for their disregard of the anxieties of their era. Jalali was uncontroversial and quiet. He did not make headlines or receive much media attention at all. He was weary of geopolitical history. The history of the human struggle to achieve happiness and reconcile with the forces of nature -- this is what preoccupied his mind and shaped his artistic imagination.
the world begins
where I end
where i am no more
tall mountains rise
and roaring rivers flow
i begin where
the world ends
where mountains are flat
and roaring rivers no longer flow
it is there
where my heart -- in its emptiness -- beats
like a volcano
Describing his poems as dialogues with the world, Jalali wrote, "It means that they express an idea and further provide a background that ignites a passion for thinking and ruminating. These dialogues always remain interrupted, unfinished, which creates a sense of anticipation. They do not have a logical form, whether outwardly or inwardly, and thus they are not an impediment to the reading process; the path for continued thinking is wide open thereafter."
Jalali was a devout animal lover and shared his home with many dogs and cats. Devoted to his mother, he never married. The Bijan Jalali Literary Award was established in memory of his lasting accomplishments.
one arrives
and one departs
and their sweet
smiles turn bitter
pity the myth
that we weave
every time
like cobweb
a housewife,
one unfamiliar to us
freely tears
rubs and
throws it all
away
should someone ask
for me tell them
he has gone to watch
the rain
if they insist
tell them he has gone
to see the storms
if they prove
adamant tell them
he will not return
All translations by Aria Fani. Comments af@ariafani.com.
Copyright © 2011 Tehran Bureau