Davalpa

Majid Naficy

The water that touches the shore
Is like me with a white cane,
Tapping everything
From the broken fences of houses
To the fragrant butterfly shrubs
And open trash cans
Filled with dry bushes,
A still-warm van in front of a house
Blocked half of the sidewalk,
A cat meowing on a fence
And her owner smoking on his porch,
The cars standing at a stop light
As I pass the crosswalk,
Hear the sounds of their radios
And find out their political lines.

I stop at the water
That touches the Gulf coast,
Releasing me from all burdens
And takes me to the land of my childhood,
To the land of bright colors
Next to my grandma with henna hair
And a black mole on her forehead
Sitting on a colorful carpet.
She puffs slowly on her fresh water pipe
And tells me about Sinbad the Sailor
Who had to piggyback a half blind Davalpa*
In the jungles of India.

August 31, 2017

*- Davalpa in Persian literally means strap-leg who appeared to Sinbad the Sailor as a feeble old man sitting on a tree trunk asking for a piggyback to cross a stream. Sinbad pitied him and put him on his shoulders. But Davalpa wraps his very long strap legs around Sinbad’s neck and body and makes him his slave. Finally Sinbad frees himself by getting Davalpa drunk.

***

لینک‌های شعرها، مقاله‌ها و کتاب‌های مجید نفیسی(به‌فارسی وانگلیسی)

 
 
 
 
1Poem: Davalpa  شعر: دوالپا
1 Poem: Candle  شعر: شمع
مصاحبه آرش دبستانی با مجید نفیسی
Video: AH, SANTA MONICA: A POETRY READING WITH MAJID NAFICY. SANTA MONICA PUBLIC LIBRARY, PICO BRANCH
Majid Naficy a recipient of 2025 Santa Monica City artist fellowship
Majid Naficy's New Book: A Witness for Ezzat
کتاب تازه‌ی مجید نفیسی: شاهدی برای عزت
Majid Naficy in Wikipedia
Music: Ghost Pepper Stepper: I'll Be Fine
Video: فرار در آغوش برادر؛ کودک فلسطینی که برادر کوچکش را ۱۰کیلومتر بر دوش گرفت
گزارش هاآرتص و قمار رضا پهلوی بر سر اسرائیل
آسو: ما هم رؤیایی داریم: پاسخ سعید مدنی به آصف بیات
هنر و زندگی با فیروزه خطیبی
Vox Populi: Adam Patric Miller: A Chill in American Classrooms
The New Yorker: Who Can Lead the Democrats?
The New Yorker: Will A.I. Trap You in the “Permanent Underclass”?
Background Briefing with Ian Masters: The James Comey Show Trial by Trump and Bondi Gets Underway | Trump's "War Within" is Underway and It Will Be a Long
One | America's Sea Change of Views on Israel Two Years After October 7
 
 
"And yet it does turn!" Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)