Long Exposure
There is something
in this empty cage
آخرین پرنده را هم رها کرده ام
اما هنوز غمگینم
چیزی
آخرین پرنده را هم رها کرده ام
اما هنوز غمگینم
چیزی
در این قفس خالی هست
که آزاد نمی شود
Even after letting go
of the last bird
I hesitate
There is something
in this empty cage
that never gets released
_____
From Lean Against This Late Hour by Garous Abdolmalekian, to be published on April 14, 2020 by Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright © 2020 by Garous Abdolmalekian. Translation copyright © 2020 by Idra Novey and Ahmad Nadalizadeh.
Garous Abdolmalekian was born in 1980, days after the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War, and lives in Tehran. He is the author of five poetry books and the recipient of the Karnameh Poetry Book of the Year Award and the Iranian Youth Poetry Book Prize. His poems have been translated into Arabic, French, German, Kurdish, and Spanish. Abdolmalekian is presently the editor of the poetry section at Chesmeh Publications in Tehran and the executive editor of publications at the Youth Poetry Office in Iran.
