#ShukreaErfan

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Shukrea Erfan: In her own words 

Shukrea Erfan: In her own words 

Shukrea Erfani شکریه عرفانی, born in 1978 in Qarabagh, Ghazni province, and a distinctive voice in the modern Farsi poetic landscape, spoke with Sohrab Soroush of Etilaat Roz on July 11, 2021, for an insightful conversation. This is an excerpt.

Translated from the Farsi by Farhad Azad 

AftaabMag.com | Spring 2024

Who is Shokrieh Erfani? 

Shokrieh Erfani is one of the people on Earth. The forces of history and geography brought her into this world in a mountainous village in Ghazni. Like millions of others like herself, she became a refugee, a second-class alien citizen in another country. She experienced childhood, youth, and life. She fell in love. She battled and grappled with the fierce storms of life and countless concepts and conventions. Sometimes, she sought refuge in solitude and wrote poetry. Whenever I think of her, these things come to mind.

First Experience Writing 

The creator of my first poem was love. My restless, curious, and insatiable spirit and growing up in a family where, because of my father being a cleric, books and reading had a place in it are also reasons that I can consider effective in my inclination towards the world of poetry, especially since my father also wrote poetry. Getting acquainted with the literary gatherings of that time was also one of the essential influential factors, but what clearly one day put a pen in my hand and said to write was love.

Comparing Poetry 

I can compare poetry to an event. You don't wait for it, and you don't know the time of its arrival, meaning you don't have an appointment with it. It's a sudden occurrence within you that you must express in language.

Defining Poetry 

Experts have written extensively on the definition of poetry, and of course, the poet's job is to create poetry, not to define it. Therefore, I cannot define poetry either, but my intuition tells me that poetry transforms a poet's inner reactions to the outside world through language. Poetry is a reaction, and art is generally the reaction of the human inner self to the outside world. Certainly, reacting to the outside world is the work of every living being, but what makes the reaction of an artist or a poet different from other reactions is their higher degree of sensitivity compared to others and the expression of that sensitivity in a form and field where beauty has priority. Beauty is the same tool and criterion for measuring a poem and, of course, the means of separating it from other words.

Coming of Age in Exile 

The issue of immigration also had a special place among our poets. The poets of that era intended to create and establish an acceptable identity in the larger dominant space by writing the poems of their time. Therefore, poems with a social epic approach and occasional ones had a unique advantage in those days... I also started writing in this space… Later, multiple migrations to other countries and getting acquainted with the broader realms of world poetry completely changed my perspective and commitment to poetry compared to what I had started.

Influence of Classical Farsi Poetry 

Today, we can no longer write poetry in the style and perspective of ancient poetry, but we must remember that original and outstanding work is never affected by time but rather affects time. The proof of this statement is the collections of ancient poets that still have a much higher place among Farsi poetry readers than today's poetry. Since my university field was literature and I spent most of my student years studying ancient texts, these texts have had a profound effect, especially in the field of familiarity with the elegant language of classical literature.

Today's Poetry and Landscape 

The poet of today must be a person of today, and a person of today must speak in the language of today and use concepts familiar to today's world. We live in a world where the centrality of the individual takes precedence over any other concept. An individual who lives in a modern world and whose poetic elements are naturally influenced by this world. 

The human-centered realm of speech has been shattered, and love for today's poets has become an earthly phenomenon. There is no eternal wine or heavenly savior for them. They see themselves as wandering beings in the darkness of a world where the dominance of the capitalist system and, on the other hand, their intellectual growth and familiarity with humanistic philosophical thoughts have brought them willingly or unwillingly into another realm of feeling, thought, and expression. 

We live in a world of nuclear warheads, the dominance of capitalism, and the magic of the media, and even if, as human beings from developing countries, we are not directly related to them, the heaviest burden of these phenomena is on our shoulders and our people. 

So, we should be the same as what we are. Poetry and art are inherently a cry against darkness and light that keeps the human heart bright, and this issue is always more significant and beyond the limits of time and place.

Role of Emotion in Poetry 

Emotion cannot be cultivated; it is the cultivator. I accept that emotion is one of the elements of my poetry, and its presence is quite natural because poetry cannot exist without emotion. In fact, this emotion becomes a tool for the poet to penetrate the depths of the audience and reach their hidden inner self. On another level, my being a woman also contributes to the dominance of emotion in my poems. Still, I don't want it to be seen from a feminist perspective. Unfortunately, nowadays, anything related to women has fallen into the trap of confused and denialist Eastern feminism to the extent that one fears that one day, being human and naturally human will become less valuable and less meaningful than being a woman or a man.

Views On Contemporary Poetry by Women

I still consider the poetry of [Farsi-speaking] women today to be a child who has to go a long way. Fall many times, get up again, and continue until maturity and consistency are reached. It is a fact that feminine and physical expressions and images have a very high frequency among our women's works and are often a tool to attract the attention of the larger male space. I do not condemn this and consider it a part of the same effort and struggle that our women have to grapple with so that one day they can pass it and experience other more expansive territories, but what makes me sad is that the use of the element of gender has become a tool that some of our women have taken refuge behind to convince themselves of today's literary society. 

I read the work of most of our female poets, and unfortunately, I often see that their work needs more serious study, thought, and personal experience. Media poetry and gender slogan poetry are among the texts that, although necessary as an experience, can be likened to short coughs before a speech. The audience in front of you wants to know what you have to say after those short coughs. 

That's where you must enter the field with the power of a well-read poet fluent in thought and language. One must do serious studies, open many unopened doors, and throw oneself into the heart of many experiences to create. Of course, there are poets whose works are outstanding and valuable.

Exile, Roots, and Future   

Unfortunately, my entire life has been spent in exile. The root of this pain is profound and will never be erased from the heart. I often wish to return to the embrace of my homeland, but I may have had the opportunity and courage to do so today. 

In any case, physical presence is not very important. Wherever I am in the world, I am a branch of the same tree.

Years of being involved in immigration and many other conflicts in life have taken a lot of time and opportunities from me. I should have worked more than I did, but for the future of this poet, I wish that she remains a poet. 

She is a poet who writes about love instead of war, and her works hold a special place in readers' hearts. - - -

Editor's Reflections

This interview is the most intellectually honest exchange I've encountered with a poet of my generation. Each response is a revelation about the context of contemporary poetry for the last four-plus decades and the future.

Shukrea Erfani comments on the general position of contemporary Farsi writers, "I read the work of most...and unfortunately, I often see that their work needs more serious study, thought, and personal experience."

This also resonates with me in other art forms, including contemporary music, where deep roots are often neglected in favor of shallow ones.

Growing up, I was fascinated by the spring rains and saddened to witness trees with shallow roots toppling while pleased to see those with deeper roots remain firm (استوار) season after season.

— Farhad Azad

May 16, 2024