While I’ve always respected poetry, I’ve never been too interested in sitting down to read it. However, I kept hearing the name Forough Farrokhzad and seeing her work incorporated into the work of other artists, so naturally I was intrigued and began to learn more about her. This led me to the book Let Us Believe in the Beginning of the Cold Season, a book of selected poems.

Who is Forough Farrokhzad?

Before we talk about the book, let’s set the stage for who exactly Forough is and why she appears so often today. Forough was an Iranian poet and film director who is loved by many for her influential poetry. In an industry dominated by men, her poetry was a stark contrast as it focused on sensuality, protest, and the innermost thoughts, feelings, desires and aspirations of women.

Forough’s work is one of the first times that an accurate portrayal of pleasure, pain and emotion — especially during a time of immense change in Iran (and around the world). Her life was subjected to a lot of criticism due to her personal life and for writing about “taboo” topics, but that didn’t seem to slow her down.

She unfortunately passed away at the age of 32 in a car crash, but her work continues to inspire people to this day.

How was the book?

So, now that we know a little bit more about the poet, let’s jump into the book. This was my first book of poetry, so I really wasn’t sure how to go about reading it. At first, I started reading it in my head, but I found myself zipping through them and not really retaining much. When I switched to reading out lout to myself, it helped me take a lot more pauses and I noticed I was able to take much more in while reading.

At first, the poems just felt OK. Nothing revolutionary, but then they started to click a bit more for me and they felt intense, raw and powerful. The words hit hard at unexpected times and felt personal. I keep track of lines that really stand out to me while I’m reading books, and there were plenty of them that I was able to pull from these poems. One example that really felt intense is from the poem of the same name as the book, “Let Us Believe in the Beginning of the Cold Season.”

I come from the world of indifferent thoughts and words and voices
and this world resembles a nest of snakes
and this world is filled with the sound
of the footsteps of people
who as they kiss you
mentally braid the rope for your hanging

“Let Us Believe in the Beginning of the Cold Season”

The poems in Let Us Believe in the Beginning of the Cold Season were initially written in Persian and were translated into English by Elizabeth Gray Jr. Translations can be hit or miss, and it feels especially iffy when it comes to poetry as it relies heavily on nuance of language and culture. Something I thought was super helpful with her translations, though, was the inclusion of an appendix which includes notes and a glossary. This gave a lot of helpful insight and background, which made the poems hit a bit differently.

Overall, I think this book is well worth a read – even if you’re not a poetry person. Some of the lines from this book are still in my mind well after a week of finishing the book. I definitely will be reading more poetry by Forough, and can see myself re-reading this again once I’m more familiar and comfortable with poetry as a whole.