FORGETTING

Written by Umid Najjari

Translated from the Azerbaijani by the poet

Narrated by Bill Wolak

Iran

 

The dried up tree said:

“If the old days come back

I’ll bend and collect my leaves.”

The bird whose nest had gone said:

“Sow some sky on my grave.”

 

The burnt matches were the exiled poets of the world

They were ignited …

They were extinguished …

They were thrown far away

The poets died wishing to return to their matchboxes

The bridge that I saw was destroyed by flood …

Nobody ever has crossed over it again.

The fish forgot everything

Dried trees …

Nestless bird …

Poets …

The fish forgot the bridges

The fish didn’t wake up one morning

The fish forgot their heartbeats

 

 

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.