Time of the Curator with Poet Extraordinaire ,Mansour Noorbakhsh.

Chronicler and Veteran broadcaster, Mansour Noorbakhsh,   an amazing poet with your verses tasting grape-wine maturity. Your lyrical prowess is unmatched. The rhythm is trendsetting, the beat is danceable. We    are mentally cranked by your psyche -raving imagery .The reason within is heart-thumping. As thus, we drink from the new poetic refreshment of your literary dexterity with the gusto of lyrically famished readers. Your simplified verbiage is catalytic in transmitting your voice and enables the reader to extract valuable messages within. This poetry collection is didactic, It is a lifelong –lesson of love, positive thinking and a perception shifting. This instalment is a full coarse meal that gives contentment to us, your audience .It is an artistic balanced diet. A proverbial soul food .This recipe of word art is carved onto every readers DNA like an antennae plucked onto the radio transmitter. Your poetry is concontional mix of confessions, eulogies, love, tragedies and promises. It is a toasted bread of paradox, battered with sweet marmalade and peanut butter -paste on to the both sides. It is a chronicle of spirituality, cultural identity and traces of nostalgia are visible within your diligently crafted verses. It is a revelation that resonates with the old adage that says, poets are mirrors of their society. TIME OF THE POET REPUBLIC   is spiritedly gratified to profile , feature and publish a great writer , literary arts  influencer , amazing poet ,distinguished curator and accomplished literary arts broadcaster   Mansour Noorbakhsh  . Together We Rise (Blurb by Mbizo CHIRASHA)

Not Yet Flawed

     “To Iran’s legendary classical singer Mohammad Reza Shajarian and all artists, poets, and writers who are trying to be the voice of their people and human rights.”

I carry a mirror everywhere, 

clean and clear, like the full Moon.  

Taller and wider than myself. 

Carrying it is not an easy thing,

like your love. 

Even traumatic. But, 

it can’t be fooled 

anywhere and by anyone. 

It doesn’t hide anything, like your heart. 

So, what do you think? 

How many people can tolerate it? 

How many doors may welcome it? 

But I am not afraid, like your eyes. 

If they spit at it 

it helps me to clean it better, and more often. 

And if they throw rubble at it,

demolition debris, 

although painful, but I’ll be happy,  

like your smile. I’m sure 

a shattered mirror

“Not yet flawed, it drifts. Pine and cinnamon 

Spreading in my old garden . . . All light,” * 

reflects greater, even unlimited light.

And no doubt, there are many other people  

ready to carry each piece of it

taller and wider than before.

* Full Moon by Du Fu

Poem Migration

Poems need to be heard

as birds need to fly.

Neither can stand stagnant

in cage or silent to die.

Without an open window

beauty returns absurd

poet lingers on a window

elated like the fly of a bird.

If I am supposed to be a poet

my city would be wherever

I can admire the beauty

like caressing of a lover.

or tweet and fly like a bird

not like the chuckling of

two strangers lurking wild

and hide for making love.

If I am supposed to be a bird

birds survive with migration,

so, poems need an open window

they can’t stand hibernation.

Cracked Skin Pomegranates

I’ve been silent for a long time

Like that pomegranate tree in our house

when I was a child,

A tree that never had enough water to its roots

but every spring was filled with blossoms,

and its branches full of pomegranates 

every Summer,

though most of them had cracked skins. 

My mother was said smiling,

These are smiley pomegranates.

She was keeping some of them

for cold long winter nights

I’ve been silent for a long time

like my mother, my father, my siblings

and my classmates.

Like our pomegranate tree

and other trees in our neighborhood,

which have never spoken

Share your drunken moments with me

until I drop the last drop of my life 

into your glass

like a cracked skin pomegranate.

Sadness is nothing but a heart,

empty of a bright imagination.

Share your drunkenness with me

abandoned but rich.

Music of the joyful roar of trees

rivers, mountains and seas

which have never been spoken

in a cold long winter night.

Mansour Noorbakhsh writes and translates poems in both English and Farsi, his first language. He tries to be a voice for freedom, human rights and environment in his writings. He believes a dialog between people around the world is an essential need for developing a peaceful world, and poetry helps this dialog echoes the human rights. Currently he is featuring The Contemporary Canadian Poets in a weekly Persian radio program https://persianradio.net/. The poet’s bio and poems are translated into Farsi and read to the Persian-Canadian audiences. Both English (by the poets) and Farsi (by him) readings are on air. This is a project of his to build bridges between the Persian-Canadian communities by way of introducing them to contemporary Canadian poets. His book about the life and work of Sohrab Sepehri entitled, “Be Soragh e Man Agar Miaeed” (trans. “If you come to visit me”) is published in 1997 in Iran. And his English book length poem; “In Search of Shared Wishes” is published in 2017 in Canada. His English poems are published in “WordCity monthly” and “Infinite Passages” (anthology 2020 by The Ontario Poetry Society). He is member of The Ontario Poetry Society and he is an Electrical Engineer, P.Eng. He lives with his wife, his daughter and his son in Toronto, Canada.

TIME OF THE POET REPUBLIC Curator

Mbizo CHIRASHA – UNESCO-RILA Affiliate Artist. 2020 Free Speech Fellow at PEN Deutschland.2020 Poet in Residence of the Fictional Café . 2019 African Fellow of the Ihraf.org.Contributing Writer at Monk Arts and Soul Magazine . Literary Arts Activism Diplomatie at Bezine Arts and Humanities Magazine and The Poet A Day. Featured Poetry Artist at World BeyondWar.Org. Arts Features and Political commentary Writer at Cultural Weekly. Featured African Writer at Demer Press International Poetry Series . Featured African Performance Poet at 2020 Medellin International Poetry Festival. Featured Poet/Writer at INKSWEATAND TEARS Journal, Sentinel UK , Wrath-bearing Tree- USA , FemAsia Magazine -UK. Soutrhern Africa Poet  at 2020Festival Internacional de Poesía de Medellín.2019 Live Literature Hub Curator/Producer at Sotambe International Film Arts FESTIVAL. 2009 Poet in Residence at International Africa Culture and Development, ICACD). 2003 Young Literary Arts Delegate of ZimBookFair to Goteborg International Book Fair and was  the Spokenword Artist at SIDA African Pavilion . Co-Editor of a three Languages International collection STREET VOICES with prominent Germany Author Andreas Weiland . Featured Poet at Cervena Barva Press Newsletter. Literary Arts and Poetry Contributor to the Zimbabwean Voice of the Voiceless Newspaper. African Participant to the World Poetry Almanac Book Series in Mongolia. Resident Coordinator for 100 Thousand POETS for Peace- Zimbabwe. Founder and Creative Director at GirlChildcreativity Project . Writer in Residence. Global LITERARY Arts Projects Influencer. Published Author and International Acclaimed Poet. Chronicler and Publisher , AFRICA WRITERS CARAVAN. Chief Editor at TIME OF THE POET REPUBLIC. Projects Curator at WOMAWORDS LITERARY PRESS. Chief Influencer at Brave Voices Poetry Journal. Author and Editor at Porcupine Quill.