Ali Alizadeh was born in Iran in 1976 and migrated to Australia as a teenager. His first book, eliXir: a story in poetry, was published in 2002. His new collection of poetry, Eyes in Times of War, had been published by Salt Publishing, Cambridge. He is currently living in China and is the reviews editor of Cordite Poetry Review. He holds a PhD in writing from Deakin University, Melbourne, and has taught writing and literature at a number of tertiary institutions. His writing interests include history, spirituality and dissent. He has also written for theatre and film, translated work from Farsi into English, and performed his poetry at Australia’s major literary and arts festivals.
Ali Alizadeh
C/- International Exchange Office
Zhongnan University of Economic and Law
114 Wuluo Road, Wuhan, Hubei Province
430064 P. R. China
Once upon a time: Bedouin shepherd marries into early-
Medieval mercantile city-dwellers of Arabia. Freed from the bondage of work, he lazes in caves, imagines
god. His urbane wife, connoisseur of comfortable life hates deserts, caravans and camels; the first convert
to his way of imagining god. But how to exalt, distinguish
I’m comfortable with your confronting me
hurling, albeit politely, the epic query
haunting your ‘tolerance’ and a fever
to my soul. It’s frankly a relief
decoding the cryptic cause of my exile
in the context of considering your phobia.
The incorrigible sycophants clap
their wrinkled hands and I won’t
pretend that calamity can be
averted. The President has at last
constructed sentences with good syntax
signifying something to the effect of
sabres rattling or bugles polished
to announce the onslaught; and I won’t
deny the deleterious import
of the Texan’s contrived eloquence.