Anahid Hojjati

I visited Portland last weekend

Still charming. It was great to see the city where I went to university. I also saw few old friends. My daughter liked staying in downtown and the fact that we could walk to the movie theatre and restaurants. Part of the town that used to be rundown is now very nice. It is called Pearl district. Famous Powell bookstore is located there and some coffee shops, breweries, stores that cater to kids of rich parents, a park with water (god forbid :)) for kids to play, etc.

Visiting Portland was kind of inspiring. At one point, as I was walking in downtown and I saw a store with a small clock next to its sign, I even had an idea for a short story in the style of "Back to Future". I remember watching first movie in the series in the downtown Portland. My idea was about young me running into my daughter or into old me.   I have not written the story yet but the idea has stayed with me and I might give it a try. Visiting the North part of Oregon coast;

 Astoria, Seaside and Cannon Beach, was also fun.  

Azarin jan,, thanks for commenting.

I am glad that you liked my poem, and thanks for your input regarding which one you liked better.

So lovely!

I loved the English version better! One of your best works so far...Brava!

Azarin

Dear Omeedvar, I agree.

Thanks for your comment. I like the Farsi one better too.

Thanks for sharing

Dear Anahid

I liked the Farsi version better, thnaks for sharing. 

Dear Vildemose,

My dear friend, thanks for your wishes.

What a funny comment, dear MM.

Actually when I was in Portland, the rain did not bother me at all. I had just left Iran and was glad about that. Also, as a student, I had little free time which family and friends occupied.  MM jan, your comment was really funny with the part about the happy farmer.

Lovely and cheerful. thank

Lovely and cheerful. thank you anahid jan. I enjoyed reading your poem. Shows your inner happiness. May you always be happy, joy-filled and serene.

Anahid jan

I have never heard the Portland rain interpreted in a positive way as you did, except if one is a farmer.

Thanks.

Dear All Iranians and Ostaad Saadat Noury, thanks

Dear All-Iranians, thanks for your link. In my case, where I mention

 خانه (home)

I don't mean the home that I grew up in, but the home country.

آهنگ جان , لطف داری .

در ضمن , ممنون از زمستان , پاییز و تابستانت .

Very Thoughtful Poem

Thanks.

خانه قفس نيست اما دختران ايران از آن می گريزند

//www.jeafatima.blogfa.com/post-20.aspx

A very good poem dear Anahid. Thank you.

Thanks Faramarz jan for fantastic link

very nice poems.  I do get many of the references. The contest is by the most famous bookstore in Portland, Powell. Couple of poems, I can personally identify with. I added your link to my favorites to read more and often. Some of the areas mentioned in the poems, have gone through changes. For instance in one poem, it talks about Burnside. In 1980s, that was an area for homeless and it was neglected. In 2000s, they turned some industrial places into expenisve lofts and I believe that now, same area is called Pearl district. This coming weekend, I will check it for myself. Again, thanks for reading the poem and especially for the link.

و..درود بر

و..درود بر تو..آناهید..با نغمه های زیبایت

A Poem about Portland

Anahid,

There was a contest to write a poem about Portland, Oregon a while back. Here are the winners.

I have never been there, but I am sure that you can identify with the places.

Maybe Soosan Khanoom can translate them!

//www.powells.com/poetrycontest/winners.html

Thanks Soosan khanoom. I am more the opposite.

Thanks Soosan Khanoom for your comment. I am usually more comfortable with translating my own poems, especially from English to Farsi. I think that the reason for comparative ease is that since I can take liberties and make changes and not worry that I am not being loyal to what the poet meant. Translating from Farsi to English is more difficult, but still easier if it is my own poem.

Anahid

Both versions are beautiful .....

I personally can not translate my pomes to Farsi or translate the one I write in Farsi into English .... that is just the case with my own poems ....  I , however, have translated many farsi poems and lyrics to English ... nothing really professional 

But somehow when it comes to my own poetry , my thoughts are simply locked in the language that I wrote them ...

Originally, I wrote this poem in English

and its English version was

When home became a cage
  for singing birds
A graveyard to escape
You showered me
with your rain
Simple, innocent
not foreign at all
Thanks, I was there
If it rained or snowed
in laughter or in tears
Life was full of should
Not as sad as it could
I salute you Portland
for your green, for your rain 
 for all my new meet and greet
Above all, I salute you
for bringing Roses onto street 
 
Then I decided to translate it to Farsi. I like the Farsi version better, so I am blogging the Farsi one. Please note that the Farsi version of the poem is not now a 100% translation of the original English version. Special thanks to Orang. I read his poem titled "panj" and wrote a comment about going back to Portland for a visit and that got me thinking about what Portland meant for me in those 1980s years.