A simurgh (a monstrous mythical bird with the power of reasoning and speech). From Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing, by al-Qazwīnī (d. 1283/682). Courtesy…
SPECIAL SECTION
Five Younger Women Poets from Azerbaijan
Photo: Clarissa Bell To the Children of War Mornings, they run from the dark along the length of the seashore.Like an iron sword beaten by a blacksmith, the sun reddensas their feet strike the ground…
Photo: Robert S. Donovan A Man’s Confession This is not simply loneliness. Your absenceis a terrible and bitter thing.Every night when I return, throwopen the front door, leavebehind all other amus…
Photo: Unsplash We Shall Manage for Rabiqe, who doesn’t like to read sad poems our teardrops will drywe shall forget even the easiest of rebellions – rebellion against God we shall for…
Bronze statue in Baku’s Fountain Square of a young woman in contemporary attire talking on a mobile phone, erected in 2014. Photo: Alison Mandaville I have broken a cup There is an ache in every corn…
Photo: Stefan Schweihofer I Scatter Bread Crumbs to the Sparrows From my palms spills the joy of sparrows.I call them to the crumbs, Come quickly! and Who will be first?Their frozen bills wa…
One of several sculptures in Azerbaijan honoringnineteenth-century poet Khurshidbanu Natavan,Nizami Museum of Literature. Photo: Alison Mandaville In the center of one square in the capital of Baku,…
