Song of a Captive Bird: based on the life of Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhad

Song of a Captive Bird by Jasmin Dapzink is a story inspired by the life and poetry of Forugh Farrokhzad. Born in 1935 to her father, a man she only knew as the Colonel and his wife, Turan, Forugh was a child who found pleasure in breaking the rules and even greater pleasure in the storytelling afterward. In the summer of 1950, she met her cousin and future husband, Parviz Shapour. He was a satirist who encouraged her to write poetry. They were married in 1951 when she was 16 and her only son would be born two years later. However, she felt trapped by the bonds of marriage and motherhood, she began to travel to Tehran seeking to publish her poetry. Once her poems were published and gained attention, she finds her life at a crossroad. Parviz grants her a divorce and she loses custody of her son, she tries to rebuild her life and gain her voice as a feminist and a poet at a time when Iran was in turmoil.

Song of a Captive Bird is an interesting story of a woman ahead of her time. I wasn’t familiar with her or her poetry but as a lover of poetry I was intrigued. Her life was filled with horrors and heartache. First at the mercy of her father, then her husband (who didn’t treat who horribly but expected her to conform), and then at society who wasn’t prepared for her voice. Ms. Dapzink describes Forugh’s life with such details that I cringed and cried at her pain and at her frustration. Sadly, Forugh was killed in a car accident on February 14, 1967. Her poems would be banned and censored by the government but her poems still found their way into the hands of the people and have been read for decades after her death. I enjoyed how Ms. Dapzink used Forugh’s poems throughout the story so the reader can understand the situation which inspired her work. I highly recommend Song of a Captive Bird.

Song of a Captive Bird

will be available on February 13, 2018

In hardcover and eBook

“Why should I stop, why? 
the birds have gone in search 
of the blue direction. 
the horizon is vertical, vertical 
and movement fountain-like; 
and at the limits of vision 
shining planets spin. 
the earth in elevation reaches repetition, 
and air wells 
changes into tunnels of connection; 
and day is a vastness, 
which does not fit into narrow mind 
of newspaper worms.”

-verse taken from “It is Only Sound that Remains”