This space will present my understandings, analysis and findings throughout six courses.

To begin with, a poem written by Iranian Poet, Ali Abdollahi

Memories of Seclusion

My right shoe has gone on leave
I'm neither four-footed, nor two

I read Nietzsche in a state of primordial trinity
At night he enters my sleep and says:
Finally, I get to rub out your moustache!

The phone has gone straight to voicemail for days
Yet again, the bloody landlord!

I scratch my foot with a knitting needle

Nothing good ever came from the right
The left is left
I am weary, so weary,
tired of this tripartate opposition:
right-handedness, left-mindedness, nihilism

Translated by Alireza Abiz

– from “Memories of Seclusion” by Ali Abdollahi

Ali Abdollahi has published several poetry collections with translations, Abdollahi was an instructor for German Language and literature in multiple Iranian educational institutions. He currently is a moderator of a German poetry website, where he puts himself in the position to introduce German and international readers to Iranian poets, including himself and other inspirational Persian speakers. He had been involved in a panel in 2021 and discussed the situation of exile and the product of that in writing exilic Persian poetry (Eume, 2021). This resonated very much with my Alternative Media in the Middle East Course.

Citations:

e.V., F. T. S. (2021). Poetry and politics: Co-optation and exile in Persian poetry. EUME. Retrieved March 28, 2023, from https://www.eume-berlin.de/en/events/calendar/details/poetry-and-politics-co-optation-and-exile-in-persian-poetry.html

Ali Abdollahi (علی عبداللهی). خاطرات انزوا (Ali Abdollahi). Retrieved March 28, 2023, from https://www.lyrikline.org/en/poems/2196?showmodal=en