Poetry vs ideology

@stoney pointed me in the direction of an article in the Washington Post, Reading Twitter in Tehran, Why the real revolution is on the streets — and offline. Make of the article what you will. What struck @stoney and me was this here little passage here:

Online chatter has enormous value when it offers a window into an otherwise closed society, but much of the cyber conversation in Iran has absolutely nothing to do with politics or revolution. Religion is a major topic for bloggers — and not necessarily the politics of religion, but rather its historical, theological and personal aspects. And the most frequently discussed topic on Iranian blogs? Poetry.

Nope, absolutely nothing to do with politics or revolution. Just harmless old poetry. Which is why poets are being jailed by repressive governments the world around.

A similar observation prompted @morningporch to remember this quote:

“Poetry is a cure for ideology.” Yves Bonnefoy

And @stoney reminds me that @morningporch, aka Dave Bonta, has posted several videos of Iranian poetry at Moving Poems, including Tomorrow by Abbas Saffari, video and translation by Niloufar Talebi for The Translation Project DVD, Midnight Approaches. Be sure to watch the accompanying video of Ms. Talebi explaining her translation process for this poem.

Also Red Rose 1 & 2 by A. H. Afrasiabi and I Hang Myself by Saghi Ghahraman (text here). All translated by Niloufar Talebi.

I haven’t said much about what’s going on in Iran. I can’t pretend to have any real understanding of what has been happening there, but I fear there may have been some projection in our reaction. Though I have to admire the leadership and bravery of the women involved, I’m not sure anyone could describe Mr Mousavi as liberal in our understanding of the term. For that matter, I wouldn’t describe Mr. Obama as a lilberal either. And people do change, as do governments. Unfortunately, in my lifetime, it has been a rare thing for a government to change for the better.