Silence and Lost Words

Rouhangiz Karachi was born in Firuzabad, an ancient Iranian city located between Shiraz and the Persian Gulf. Poetry has always played an important role in her life; she was allowed to enter primary school at age six because she could recite poetry. Her four poetry collections in Persian depict women's social struggles and internal tensions. For over forty years, Karachi's scholarly work has also focused on Iranian women, poets and protagonists alike. With the insightful perspective of a poet, and the skill of a scholar, Karachi's "woman" appears universal. Very few of her poems have a uniquely regional or ethnic color, allowing all readers to identify with, and be deeply affected by them. Her poems give a strong sense of introspection, keeping an unkind world at bay-a magnificent, exquisitely disciplined literary gift has been brought to bear upon the unbearable. Silence and Lost Words: Poems is a selection from Karachi's acclaimed collections, but also includes eleven of her unpublished poems in English and Persian. Mojdeh Bahar's marvelous translations make this collection as accessible to a casual fan of poetry as to a comparative literature scholar.