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by Fereshteh Sari, translated by Parisa Saranj

Amin Safaripour

Sometimes when the day dwindles over the shoulders of despair, the dead missing their own memories sit by the window and the sound of their feeble joints cracking echoes in the blinds.

They fall asleep on the hands of the clock,

are crucified on the forgotten laundry lines and remember the days gone.

By daybreak, they roll off with the old songs on their host’s tongue and depart.

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Fereshteh Sari (1956) is a writer, editor, and Russian translator who began her writing career in 1980s with the publication of her first collection of poetry, Echoes of Silence. She is the author of eight books of poetry, six novels and several children and young adult books. She was awarded the Hellman/Hammett Grant in 1998 and won Iran’s prestigious Parvin Etesami Prize in 2004 for her collection of poetry Days and Letters.

Parisa Saranj was born in Isfahan, Iran. She holds a BA in journalism from University of Massachusetts Amherst and MFA in Creative Nonfiction Writing from Goucher College. She works as a freelance translator and is currently completing a memoir of growing up in 1990s Iran. Her translations have appeared in several publications, including Nimrod International Journal, Your Impossible Voice, Body Journal, Time.com and The Blue Nib.