OnTen

Here’s a short interview on Saman Arbabi’s new show, OnTen. My bit starts at 20:55 but the rest is good too.

P.S I transcribed it (the whole thing!) into English as well, in an attempt to bridge my two beloved linguistic worlds. Some of the questions related to certain Iranian figures will not make sense (wiki the hell out of it), but a lot else will.

OT: How would you like to be introduced?
TA: Human, Tara Aghdashloo
OT: When did you start writing poetry?
TA: When I was nine.
OT: Why?
TA: My dad’s best friend died of cancer and I felt like I could talk to him that way.
OT: Are you working on any new projects?
TA: Yes, I’m usually working on a bunch of small and big projects, but poetry is always there.
OT: The first poem you wrote, what was it about?
TA: About the death of my dad’s best friend…I had a small book full of scribbles I’m calling poems now which may not really be so, and eventually my parents found it and my secret was out.
OT: What’s the difference between lyric and poetry?
TA: lyrics have a limit, poetry doesn’t.
OT: What do you think the first poet was thinking?
TA: She wasn’t thinking, she was feeling.
OT: Do you have any rules or regulations you follow consciously as you write?
TA: No it’s been a while since that self-consciousness has gone from my writing… The things that are important to me are more embedded in my mind now.
OT: Why do Iranian poets insist on using coffee and cigarettes in their poems?
TA: Coffee and cigarettes are best friends with paper and pen. But I hope soon our creativity takes us further…
OT: Do you have to be sad to be a good poet?
TA: Not at all. It’s like saying you have to be on drugs to be a good painter. They’re both excuses.
OT: Worst Iranian poem?
TA: Just one person? I don’t know.
OT: The best Iranian poet?
TA: Would be too cliche, I rather not say.
OT: Do you ever feel like running out of words while you’re writing a poem?
TA: Always.
OT: Compared to other languages, do you think the Persian that we speak today is easy for poetry?
TA: For poetry, yes, it’s better than for everything else. It’s not as good for other things like politics or academic writing.
OT: If a poet you like the most and who’s not alive today could comment on your poems, who would it be?
TA: Is it bad if I say Forough [Farrokhzad]?
OT: Which singer would you like to sing your poems?
TA: Shahin Nadjafi.
OT: What’s the most poetic word in world?
TA: The most poetic word in the world…breath?…lust? Something with an S or P.
OT: The most important word in the world?
TA: Self.
OT: Who’s having it better? Poets or painters?
TA: Neither. But painters are a little better off because at least there are some auctions, some interest. But poetry has both the linguistic and national limitation as well as the fact that there aren’t that many poetry-readers in the world..yet kids go to galleries even only because it’s trendy.
OT: The golden era of Persian poetry?
TA: I like both classical/old and new poetry, but I don’t think making them golden or silver has much value.
OT: Why isn’t contemporary Persian poetry international?
TA: No poetry is international, but I think we don’t have many great translators. And translating poems, in any language, annihilates it — especially in Persian because it’s a very specific language.
OT: Best non-Iranian poet?
TA: I like Sylvia Plath, I can’t think of any others right now…
OT: Which contemporary poet has influenced you the most?
TA: I can’t say influence, but right now I know some of these poets personally and I connect with them as a friend or a writer, and Granaz Mousavi is one of them.
OT: Can you lie in a poem?
TA: Of course, you can lie in anything. Not in a good poem, though.
OT: Which is most important, an artist’s work or character?
TA: Right now in the arts we are paying a lot of attention to the person, but ultimately it’s the work %100.

A word and a reaction:

White poetry
TA: Black
Court poet
TA: Death
Political poetry
TA: Prison
The Shahnameh
TA: Beautiful.
Iraj Mirza
TA: Yess.
Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance’s permission?
TA: uh-oh.
Nima Yooshij?
TA: It was good, it was necessary.
Plagiarism?
TA: Not the time for that anymore, no?
Pop (“cheap”) lyrics/music?
TA: Let’s dance?
Red or blue?
TA: Red.
Khosrow or Farhad?
TA: Khosrow.
Rostam or Sohrab?
TA: Both.
Dream or reality?
TA: What’s the difference?
Nader or Simin?
TA: Their daughter, what was her name?
Lorca or Neruda?
TA: Lorca.
Rock, paper, or scissors?
TA: Paper.
Left or right?
TA: Left.