“washee / was she.” Poem by Sahar Muradi. Designed and printed by Rhonda Khalifeh at the Center for Book Arts in honor of the poet’s reading on June 3, 2021. 14.75″ x 10.75″. Limited Edition of 100. Inkjet print on cotton paper. Handset and letterpress printed type in Goudy Oldstyle, Bodoni, Standard Light, and Lightline Gothic.

“The Great Green Field.” Poem by Sahar Muradi. Screen Print, approx. 12″ x 18″. Limited Edition of 100. Designed and printed by Lane Sell, Shoestring Press, for Belladonna* Series, April 2019.

Ask Hafiz

Ask Hafiz, in addition to a chapbook, is also a live and recorded collaborative performance, originally conceived and directed by Malini Srinivasan. It integrates the ghazals of Hafiz, Sahar Muradi’s narration, the gestural language of Bharatanatyam choreographed and performed by Malini Srinivasan, and a lush musical soundscape created by Haleh Liza Gafori, Trina Basu, Rich Stein, and Christopher Hoffman. The show premiered live in the 2019 Brooklyn Raga Massive’s Out of the Woods Festival at Joe’s Pub, and it was broadcast globally as part of the 2020 Ragas Live Festival.

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From the *Salaam Alaikum Series*, 2017. Poem by Sahar Muradi, in collaboration with artist Laimah Osman. Monotype on Rives BFK paper, 11 x 15 inches.

the wonder of being several

This book is a celebration of—truly, an expression of adoration for—the beauty of Dari/Farsi. Like many other languages, Dari/Farsi is filled with compound words: two or more words combined to create a more precise definition than their parts, or to create a new meaning altogether. But in Dari/Farsi, many such constructions have an uncommonly poetic flavor. A bat is a leather butterfly; a potato is a crooked plum. Metaphoric and highly visual, the words, in essence, have eyes. A new image, an imaginative alternative is born. And so, we simultaneously celebrate the beauty of the compound: out of many, one, hybrid, anew.

Special gratitude to Shaima and Ali Muradi, who humored us with their favorites and humbled us with spellings.