Mina Assadi

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Mina Assadi (born March 12, 1943 in Sari, Iran) is a famous poet and author who lives in exile in Stockholm, Sweden. She is known for writing about controversial and provocative subjects, especially when she describes the fight against the Iranian regime. Recently she wrote the poem called "Pimps" (Djakesha). It caused a lot of discussion for being too vulgar. The poem is about those who live in Iran and in exile who have forgot the struggle. She wrote her debut book, a collection of poems named "Minas Gift" (Armanghane Mina), at the age of 18. Thereafter she worked as a journalist for several well known Iranian magazines, for example Keyhan. She has written 14 books in total, the book "Who throws rocks" (Che kasi zang miandazad) attracting most attention.

Mina Assadi has also written songs for Iranian singers like Ebi ("Halah"), Dariush ("Zendegi jek basie" and "Ahay javoon"), Haideh ("Onkeh jek rosi barajeh man khoda bod"), Gitti ("Oje parvaz"), Ramesh ("To aftabi, to baroni") and Nooshafarin ("Koh he ghavei") to name a few. In the year of 1996 she won the Hellman/Hammett Grant from the Human Rights Watch of New York, USA. She has been compared to Persian poets Forough Farrokhzad, Simin Behbahani (who also is a Hellman/Hammet Grant winner) and Parvin E'tesami and Swedish poets Karl Vennberg and Edith Södergran.

[edit] A Ring To Me Is Bondage

The poem called "A ring to me is bondage" (Man beh angoshtar migojam band) written in 1988, London, from the book "A ring to me is bondage" is one of Mina Assadis most popular works.

"A Ring to Me is Bondage":

I do not think of prayer-mats,

But I do think of a hundred roads

Which pass through a hundred gardens

full of silk-tassel trees;

I know the Kibla;^[1]

It has its place where happiness is;

And I say daily prayers

On the Silk Roads,

With the music of sparrows.

I do not know what Affection means,

Or what can be the difference

between one land and the other.

Aloneness is what I call Happiness

And desert is what I call Home,

And whatever makes me sad I call Love.

To me a five-pound note means Wealth;

I describe anyone who picks a flower

as Blind;

And in my eyes a net,

that separates the fish from water,

is a Murderer.

I look at the sea with envy

And say to myself:

"How small you are!"

Perhaps the sea

Also feels the same

When it joins the ocean!

I do not know what is Night,

But Day is what I understand well.

To me a flower-bush is a Village

And a short walk in the gardens

of memories, Freedom,

And any meaningless smile, Joy.

To me anybody who has a cage

in his possession

is a Gaoler;

And I see any thought

that may remain useless in my mind,

as a Wall;

To me a ring is Bondage.

I do not think of prayer-mats,

But I do think of a hundred roads

Which pass through a hundred gardens

full of silk-tassel trees.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• This poem is translated by the poet Mahmud Kianush, it's taken from following page MAHMUD KIANUSH
• Mina Assadi
• http://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/WR97/BACK-06.htm

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