There are two elements that pave the path for my daily routines: Poetry and ordinary daily activities. There are also times that poetry disappears behind my thoughts without any known reason to me. But it’ll come back to me in a frenzy of a moment or “an emotional attack.” Every day when I wake up I hear a poem in the air. The sounds of nature, sounds of city, broken words of politics on television, neighbors fighting above me and around me. There are instances that I fall into a poetic spell while driving, walking, watching a movie or listening to a beautiful piece of music. There are words, colors, a slant of sunshine, a face, mesmerizing eyes of a stranger, or a bird pecking on chewing gum thrown from the window of a car that form a pattern. Later, that same day, a poem comes to life, Books, plenty of paper and pens are all scattered around me, on the sofa where I sit. I attend to them every day. I read. I write, I revise and I repeat the same thing over and over again. That's how I stay in touch with poetry. It walks behind me, in front of me and beside me.

About The Author:

Fereshteh Sholevar, the Iranian born poet and writer, immigrated to Germany and later to the U.S. in 1978. She received her Master’s degree in Creative writing from Rosemont College (Pennsylvania). She writes in four languages and has authored six books of poetry, a novel, and a children’s book. Sholevar has won two awards in Philadelphia Poets, the Pennsylvania Poetry Society second prize, in 2004, and three prizes from the Pennsylvania Poetry Society in 2019.

Her new bilingual poetry book (English-French) is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dust-Chocolate-poussiere-chocolat/dp/1797653504/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1555343952&refinements=p_27%3AFereshteh+Sholevar&s=books&sr=1-1&text=Fereshteh+Sholevar