The Oasis of Now

Selected Poems

Sohrab Sepehri author Kazim Ali translator Mohammad Jafar Mahallati translator

Format:Paperback

Publisher:BOA Editions, Limited

Published:19th Dec '13

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

The Oasis of Now cover

  • 100 galleys will be mailed to key review and media outlets 3-4 months prior to publication.
  • 100 finished books will be mailed to key review outlets.
  • Extensive promotion through BOA's website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, e-blasts, e-postcards, print materials, newsletter, and print catalogs.
  • Print ads in Poets & Writers magazine and Rain Taxi.
  • A grant from the Lannan Foundation allows for additional marketing, including targeted CBSD buy-ins.
  • First U.S. publication of one of Iran's most important contemporary poets. This edition includes an essay/introduction by Kazim Ali.

    The Oasis of Now is the first U.S. book publication of the works of Sohrab Sepehri (1928–1980), one of the major Iranian poets of the twentieth century. Well-versed in Buddhism, mysticism, and Western traditions, Sepehri mingled Western concepts with Eastern ones, creating a poetry unsurpassed in the history of Persian literature. In Iran, his Persian verses are often recited in public gatherings and lines from them were used as slogans by the protesters in 2009. This first full-length American volume collects poems from three of Sepehri's most important books, including the highly acclaimed Water's Footfall.

    I want to know:
    Why is a horse noble and the dove beloved
    but no one keeps a pet vulture in a gilded cage.
    Why is the humble clover trodden upon rather than the red tulip.
    I want to see anew and wash the words of the world
    in wind and rain.

    Sohrab Sepehri wrote the poems collected in The Oasis of Now after traveling through Japan, China, and India, where he was exposed to the arts of those countries as well as the spiritual disciplines of Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism. This book is crucial for anyone interested in Iranian arts and culture.

    Kazim Ali is author of ten books of poetry, fiction, essays, and translations. He is an associate professor at Oberlin College and founding editor of Nightboat Books.

    Mohammad Jafar Mahallati is Presidential Scholar in the religion department of Oberlin College. He served as Iran's ambassador to the United Nations from 1987 to 1989 and was instrumental in brokering a peace agreement between Iran and Iraq during that time.


    Finalist and Runner-Up for 2014 Best Translated Book Award

    “Ali is clearly struck by the relevance of Sepehri’s poetry to the current political climate in Iran, in particular the ways in which younger Iranians creatively reuse Sepehri’s personal lyrics in political contexts.” - The American Poetry Review

    “As a whole, Sohrab Sepehri’s The Oasis of Now is a volume celebrating the joys and sorrows of a poet as he journeys through life. Sepehri’s poems are wise and elegant and mysterious as they teach us that solitude is often the mother of breathtaking beauty.” -The Journal

    "I felt the need to slow down after reading these pieces, so much so that I just wanted to walk around my apartment, look at things, without expectations, certain that if I waited long enough something beautiful would emerge out of its ordinariness. And what if we looked at the objects or emotions we find mundane, or cheesy, or over sentimental, or pastiche; what could we learn from them? What would we see? That’s the question Sepehri’s poetry taught me." -Three Percent

    "Pulsing with life, Sepehri’s poetry mourns and rejoices, celebrating the complex nature of the world and humanity’s place within it." World Literature Today

    • Runner-up for Best Translated Book Award (Poetry) 2014

    ISBN: 9781938160226

    Dimensions: unknown

    Weight: 141g

    96 pages