Forugh Farrukhzad's Life: A Chronology
by
Iraj Bashiri
Copyright, Bashiri, 2000

1935
Born in Tehran, one of five children of a middle class family
1948
Finished elementary school; began writing ghazals
1951
Finished high school; married Parviz Shapur
1953
Her son, Kamyar, was born; the family moved to Ahwaz
1954
Her marriage to Shapur is dissolved; Kamyar is placed in Shapur 's custody; Forugh is devastated
1955
Asir (the captive), her first collection of poems is published in Tehran
1956
Divar (the wall), is published. The volume is dedicated to her ex-husband, Shapur; travels to Europe for the first time and gains a new view of the world and of herself
1957
'Esiyan (Rebellion) is published; becomes an assistant to filmmaker Ebrahim Gulistan, although their association and friendship becomes controversial, they work together until the end of Forugh's life.
1959
Travels to England to study the art of the film. Tavallodi Digar (Another Birth) is completed. The volume, published posthumously, is dedicated to Ebrahim Gulistan who had helped the poetess enormously during their nine years of association. In this same year, Forugh begins editing the film A Fire
1960
Played a role and assisted in the production of the film Courtship dealing with Iranian courtship customs
1961
Co-Produced the film Water and Heat as well as made a commercial for the Kayhan newspaper
1962
Played a role in and assisted with the production of an unfinished film to be calledThe Sea. The theme of the film is based on Sadeq Chubak's short story entitled, "Why Did the Sea Become Stormy?" Also worked on a film about a leper colony in Tabriz. The film was called The House of Black
1963
Received grand prize for "The House of Black " at Uberhausen Film festival in Germany.
1964
First anthology of her verse is published.
1965
Her life is subject of a 15-minute film documentary produced by the UNESCO
1967
Visits Italy. Plans to play in the stage production of Bernard Shaw's St. Joan in Tehran; is killed in a car accident (February), at the age of 32.
1974
A posthumous collection of her poems was published.
this is my favorite poem site

Along the Riverbank
by
Nima Yushij (1895-1960)
Along the riverbank wanders the old turtle
the day's a sunny day.
The rice-paddy scene is warm.
The old turtle basks in the warm lap of its sun,
sleep at ease
along the riverbank.
Along the riverbank there's only me
tired from the pain of desire,
awaiting my sun.
But my eyes
cannot see it for an instant.
My sun
has hidden its face from me in the distant waters.
For me everything is clear everywhere
in my standing,
in my hurrying,
only my sun is not clear
along the riverbank.

The House is Black
One of the Ten Best Films of 1997
By Jonathan Rosenbaum
The House is Black.
I mainly have to take it on faith that Forugh Farrokhzad (1935-’87) is the greatest Iranian poet of the 20th century. My involvement with her only film goes much deeper: after seeing this 22-minute 1962 documentary about a leper colony a few years ago at the Locarno film festival, I resolved as a member of the New York film festival’s selection committee to get it screened there, and finally succeeded last year after agreeing to subtitle it in collaboration with several Iranians. After premiering in New Y ork, the subtitled print showed at the Film Center twice in early October on its way back to the Swiss Cinematheque.
Thanks to my work on the film, I had plenty of opportunity to experience the overwhelming poetry of Farrokhzad’s sounds and images—including the extraordinary sound of her voice and the no less remarkable configurations of her words in relation to he r sounds and images—even if I could only appreciate the power of her written poetry secondhand. But if the greatness of some films can be measured by how much they change one’s view of the world, few have altered mine as much as this precious work.
Perhaps the most formative film I saw as a child was Tod Browning’s Freaks (1932): its view of deformity, which combines compassion and horror, has been definitive for most of my life. But The House Is Black, whose radical and poetic compass ion for lepers eschews any sense of horror or voyeurism or sentimentality, changed all that. Whether this vision is specifically Iranian is a question I’m not equipped to answer. It’s worth noting that when the film was made, its reception in Iran was far from unanimously positive; given its subject matter, I doubt it could comfortably enter the mainstream anywhere on earth. On the other hand,I suspect that part of my attraction to Iranian and Taiwanese films stems from their resistance to Western values, which implies they have a great deal to teach me. An Iranian friend who loves The House Is Black as much as I do told me that she didn’t much care for Yang’s Taipei Story because it reminded her too much of various Iranian films that inveig hed against westernization—which implies in turn that national characteristics are merely one of the many lenses we look through when we watch movies. With or without its Iranian character, The House Is Black remains the most successful fusion of cinema and poetry that I know. I suspect this is true less for formal reasons than because of Farrokhzad’s irreducible sureness in what she has to say.

war isnt my dream
I am a iranian boy
war isnt my dream
I hope see a world without WAR.

Patience is not my forte.
I do, however, have leadership ability and would never be happy in a subservient
Position
I desire freedom, and do not tolerate being possessed by others