Hours of Writing Poetry and Hours of Living Poetry

Interview with Vahe Armen, poet and translator

Vahe Armen, you know both Armenian and Persian literature - how would you describe the differences between them in simple terms?

It is an interesting question. You know, when I heard this question I thought for a moment that perhaps the differences between them are really resemblances which we are considering to be differences.

A poet in Armenia speaks about his pains - and a poet in Iran, about his pains too. The one thinks about his friends and their past - the other thinks about his friends and their past. A poet in Armenia keeps quiet about his dreams - a poet in Iran does just the same. The one thinks about his friends and their future - the other thinks about his friends and their future.

What are the common pains and dreams and past memories and future possibilities – to me no  Armenian or Iranian poet or poet from any other country should answer this.  We have already written and we  are writing about it in our poetry - read it, then you will know. 

Dear Vahe Armen, please talk about the sources of your poetry. Are the sources only Iranian? Are there also Armenian origins?

Sometimes Iranian journalists ask me: “Are the sources of you poetry solely Armenian, or there are also elements from Iran?” My answer to them is that if you had read my poetry completely and attentively, you wouldn’t ask that question - because in my poetry there are not only Armenian or Iranian sources but also origins from a lot of other environments.  For instance, things originate in a country, a city, a street, a house, even a home where I maybe never have been. But I LIVED in that country, city, streets and at that home – first, I LIVED in the works of Armenian, Iranian and foreign artists, especially writers, musicians and painters, then I RELIVED IT in the lines of my own poetry.

Nevertheless, there is a simple but very important reality: I was born and grew up in an Armenian family, my first prattling was in Armenian, in the hard and cruel conditions of the Diaspora, I was raised in the Armenian spirit. Since my childhood whenever I heard “Fatherland” only Armenia replied in my soul, mind and heart. This means that the major and sacred source of my poetry is Armenia.

What are some of the interesting names in Iranian literature today?

In Iranian literature, as in the Armenian, there are many interesting names. But unfortunately their voices don’t reach the outside world today, or to put it more accurately, in the political conditions of today. Sometimes I wonder when I see worthless and insignificant names of “writers” in the literary journals of this or other countries. It’s only too clear how and for what reasons they appear in certain foreign literary productions.

Anyway, I don’t like to give names in my interviews, especially when we talk about contemporary and living artists. You know the character of artists, particularly poets, their weaknesses sometimes even poison their greatness and high vocations. However, I will mention some writing I love more than other good material. In fiction: Mahmood Dowlatabadi, Goli Tarraghi; in poetry: Shams Langeroodi, Abbas Saffari, who lives in the USA. From the younger generation I particularly like the poetry of Sara Mohammadi Ardehali.

Why the voices of those interesting names do not reach the world’s ears is only too obvious. When the child’s voice doesn’t reach parents in the home - for several comprehensible and a thousand incomprehensible reasons - the world won’t listen to that voice either. It is terrible, when parents don’t listen, or don’t want to listen, to the voice of their own child.

I am not in any doubt that if artists living in Armenia, in Iran and in countries like us had the same living and creative conditions that artists from USA, Europe and even East Asia and several Latin-American countries enjoy, most of us should be visible and shining in the heights of international art. 

You have translated many contemporary Armenian poets into Farsi, choosing them according to your own taste. In your own vision as translator and poet, what is the status of contemporary Armenian poetry?

Armenian contemporary poetry is ARMENIAN. Despite all the inevitable changes and developments contemporary Armenian poets bring into our poetry and into literature in general, our poetry remain ARMENIAN, and I think it is honest, good and gives pleasure. If any nation breaks away from its roots, it can’t live or survive any more. I am happy, I am very happy, that our young poets understand this truth. Even if we want to reach the heights of innovation, we need strong foundations first.

Recently, the second book written by Hovhannes Grigoryan was published in Iran by your translation. What is your view of his poetry? How did Iranian readers receive those two books?

 As you mentioned above, I translate by my choice and according to my own taste. Therefore I  don’t hesitate to translate the works of those poets whom I love and who interest me. I feel a responsibility to present them to the Iranian reader. Of course, there are many difficulties and restrictions, which interfere with the best and desirable most work. The most awful of them are the fear of censorship and the obstacles censorship creates. Because of them, the best works of our authors are ignored or excluded from Armenian books.

As you said, I have translated two books of Hovhannes Grigoryan. The first of them is called “Quite Another Autumn” which consists of the majority of the poems from his book of the same name and also poems from his other books. And the second is called “A Dream Worthwhile To Sleep And Never Wake”. It is a translation of “Never Die” by Hovhannes Grigoryan.

You know, Grigoryan has been my favorite poet since I was very small; he was the god of our poetry for me. It might surprise you but before even Eghishe Charents, Paruir Sevak, Hamo Sahyan and many others I promoted Hovhannes Grigoryan and I loved him just as much as I always loved and love Hovhannes Tumanyan. I regret greatly that in the days when I first translated the poetry of Hovhannes Grigoryan I never told him how much I love him. But I think he guessed. Yes, I am sure he guessed.

Because it was he who gave me the most precious gift of my life saying: “My poems should translate Vahe Armen into Farsi, otherwise don’t do it”. And I am very happy that the two books I translated into Farsi had so good a reception in the literary circles of Iran. Most Iranian news sources and the Tehran newspapers reported the great sorrow of his death. Nowadays my Iranian friends of Facebook talk about his death with great pain and regret, they talk about his poetry. They express their condolences to me saying:

“OUR POET WILL NEVER DIE”.

 How would you explain the relation of life and reality in Iranian poetry?

To me there is no closer and more sacred relation than the relation of life and poetry. At least it’s true for a poet and an artist.

I would like to add something to this question. Don’t forget that Iranian poetry stands at the highest summits of the most magnificent classical poetry in the whole world. Perhaps this is why you can find the books of great Iranian poets like Molavi, Hafez, Khayyam, Ferdowsi, Attari and many others in any family - from the palaces of princes down to the poorest of households. And you will find at least one person among the members of those families who can recite the gazelles and quatrains. I say this to show that the relation between life and poetry is not limited to the literary framework, or to the poets and literary people living in that framework.

The relation of silence and speech in your poetry.

I am not a “chattery” sort of person at all and when I meet people, like that, I can’t help getting angry with them but when I met chattery poets, the rage is replaced by nausea.

I believe that a strong poet is someone who makes the reader think long and hard with his occult, sometimes only implicit speech. The poet can write a poem not sober but when  read it can excite a sober reader and his soul aspires, becomes noble and beautiful.

What about your future plans?

My last book of poetry was written in Farsi - “I like sometimes not to be a poet” – was actually autobiographical and I wrote it in a new style intertwining poetry and prose. It was republished two weeks ago – seven months after it was first published.

The fifth book of my poetry I have already handed to the publisher and I think it will be published after Nowruz.

Except as mentioned before, I write every day, and sometimes I tear up what I write. To me there is nothing more enjoyable and blissful time than hours of writing poetry and hours of “living poetry”. According to Vahan Teryan, life demands artistic work. There is no life where there is no art work.

                                                                                                              Interview by Hasmik Khechikyan
                                                                                                              Translated by Geoff Cooper
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