BREATHLESS WALLS

Written by Umid Najjari

Translated from the Azerbaijani by the poet

Narrated by Bill Wolak

Iran

In this monotone life,

The walls are breathless

In this marathon,

The white horses of my hair are short of breath

The meaning of the sun doesn’t change

The meaning of rented houses

Indifferent hands …

Nothing counts more than freezing

When even your pockets are cold

The seasons lose their meaning

When winter is coldest in your pockets!

Umid Najjari is a poet, writer, and translator. Born on April 15, 1989, in the city of Tabriz, he has published three books of poetry: Valley of Birds in 2015 (Iran), On the Other Side of the Walls in 2019 (Iran), and Photo of Darkness in 2020 (Azerbaijan). In 2009-2013 he studied Electronics at the Tabriz branch of the Islamic Azad University. In 2016-2020, he studied Philology at the Baku Eurasian University, majoring in Azerbaijani Language and Literature. He is an active member of the IWA Bogdani International Writers Association, the Azerbaijan Writers’ Union, and the World Union of Young Turkish Writers (DGTYB). He has earned the following awards: the Samad Behrangi award in 2016, the Ali bey Hosseinzadeh Award in 2019, the International LIFFT festival diploma in 2019, the Montenegrin Translators Association for his poetry and literary translations in 2021, and the prestigious International IWA Bogdani Award in Belgium in 2021. He has translated several books and poems that are examples of classical and modern Persian literature from Persian into Azerbaijani. His poems have been published in the United States, Serbia, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Canada, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Montenegro, Georgia, Chile, and Iran.