Voice of Santa Monica’s Natasha Garyali met with the acclaimed Iranian poet, Majid Naficy at the Annenberg Community Beach House to talk about his stay as Annenberg’s first writer-in-residence, his inspiration for the play, Shaherezad in Santa Monica, and coming to terms with his new identity as an Iranian American.

A gentle and soft-spoken man, it is difficult to imagine that Majid was a political refugee, who fled Iran on horseback in 1983. The repression and brutality suffered at the hands of fundamentalist Islamic regime of Khomeini is visible in Majid’s voice as he lovingly talks about his first wife Ezzat who was executed on January 7, 1982. The date continues to remain etched on his mind. Themes of exile and love also continue to surround his poems. Majid’s talent for poetry was recognized at an early age. He started writing poetry at the age of 11 and by the time he was 13 years old, his poems had been published in several prestigious Iranian magazines. Majid continues to weave beautiful poetry in his adopted country, the U.S. This transition of accepting a new identity and a country as his second home wasn’t easy and took him almost 10 years. “I had an expression for this,” Majid reminisces, “Ah Los Angeles! I accept you as my city and after 10 years, I am at peace with you.”

Majid was selected last year as Annenberg Beach House’s first writer in residence for winter 2009-2010. During his stay, he gave three performances which included poems on Santa Monica. “Since I came to this country in 1984, I have been living in either Venice beach or Santa Monica,” says Majid explaining his choice of subject. Talking about his second reading “Homeless and other Exiles” which he presented at the Annenberg Community Beach House last month, he says, “having lived on the west side for nearly 20 years, I see an identity between myself and the homeless.” For his second reading Majid also included his son, Azad who is a spoken word artist. “My son read a poem that he had written when my father died in Iran, so there was a poetry spreading across three generations,” he further added.

For his third and last reading Majid is presenting a new verse drama, directed by John Farmanesh-Bocca called Shaherezad in Santa Monica on Monday, January 18, 2010 at the Annenberg Beach Community House. This lyrical drama, set in various Santa Monica sites, entails the romantic and immigrationary travails of the poet Shahram, his lover Shaherezad, and the new man who comes between them.

Once more return
And call me from the dark boarding path.
Let me come back
And shower your face with kisses.
You and I have seen
Those who left and never returned.
Call me a thousand times
And let the last time never come.
(from Shaherezad in Santa Monica)

The following is an edited transcript.

Voice of Santa Monica: Tell us about your new reading Shaherezad in Santa Monica?
Majid Naficy:  The bases of this play are 12 poems that I wrote during the up and downs of my relationship – so this play is very unique, because I wrote it as I was living it. It is about a relationship between Shaherezad who had been in prison for 11 years in Iran during the time of Shah and Khomeini and Shahram from Santa Monica who she meets after the death of her husband in the Iranian prison.  What is unique is that Shahram after Shaherezad dates Sean (an American professor whom she meets in Santa Monica) neither destroys himself nor his rival, because he knows his rival has fallen in love for the same reason that he has fallen in love.

Voice of Santa Monica: How do you view love?
Majid Naficy: Without love, life is worth nothing. I have experienced love many times. I loved my first wife Izzat who was executed. It was unbearable but for the same reason that the two people need love, I started feeling the empty place of love. I welcomed a new love and that became the basis of this play.

Voice of Santa Monica: What types of poems do you find yourself writing most? Do you have a recurring type?
Majid Naficy: In art, literature and poetry the themes are limited to love, hatred, jealousy, old age, children and so on. So the topics are not really vast, but what is important is how you write about them. So if you want to put my poetry in a box I write mostly about exile and coming in terms with my new identity as an Iranian American.

Voice of Santa Monica: Do you remember your early exposure to poetry? Are there any poems you remember from your childhood?
Majid Naficy: I have been writing poetry since I was 11 years old and by the time I was 13 years old my poems were being published in prestigious Iranian magazines. My first collection of poems was published when I was 17. My family had a big influence on my writing. My brother and sisters read modern poetry, even my mother was attracted towards classical poetry. One of my father’s cousins, Sayeed Naficy was one of the literary icons in Iran and I saw him in his old age when I was 11 years old and he had a big impact on my writing. I remember the first poem that I published. It was called Good Bye. There is another poem that I wrote for my son when he was 8years old. This has been engraved by the city in the studio city. It is called “Secrets of the River“.

Voice of Santa Monica: You were born in Iran, then you moved to turkey and France and now you are living in LA. How has that affected your writing?
Majid Naficy: Yes I have poems reminiscing about turkey and France. I fled Iran in 1983 on horseback and I stayed in turkey for 6 months, but it didn’t have the kind of freedom that you have in Europe or US. When I came to France I stayed there for a year and even considered it as my second home. However since I came to LA to study at UCLA for a year in 1970 after graduating from high school, so after coming to exile in 1983, I thought it would be better for me to go back to Los Angeles.
It took me a while to feel that this is my second adopted homeland. The best expression that I had for this was “Ah, Los Angeles! I accept you as my city, And after 10 years I am at peace with you.” The city of Venice has engraved stanza of my poem “Ah Los Angeles” on their Boardwalk, at the intersection of Brooks Avenue and Ocean Front Walk. That was my turning point. I had finally come in terms with my new environment.

Voice of Santa Monica: Have you visit Iran since?
Majid Naficy: I would love to go back to Iran but I can’t because I will be executed. I am influenced by what goes on in Iran. There have been uprisings in Iran; I hope we can change theocracy to democracy in Iran without any foreign invasion.

Voice of Santa Monica: What would you be, if you would not have been a poet?
Majid Naficy: At the age of 20, I put a fight against writing poetry and I became a Marxist revolutionary and fought against the regime of Shah and Khomeni. For those 8 years I didn’t write poetry. But after my wife was executed the poetry came back to me, I wanted to revive her and to take revenge on the killers, and that was the only weapon left for me.

Voice of Santa Monica: What is your message for budding poets?
Majid Naficy: First you have to read good literature and second there should be an urge within you for writing. When you want to write, especially poetry you should let your subconscious take over and after you write your piece, later you should start editing it. In poetry the moment of creativity is very important and you should not preconceive what you want to write.

Voice of Santa Monica: What are the three things that not many people know about you?
Majid Naficy: I cook “Majidian food” – a combination of Persian American and its good stuff. I was a marathon runner for 12 years and my best record was 4hours 26 minutes. Almost everyday I am on the phone with my girlfriend who lives in the Bay Area.

Event Information:
Shaherezad in Santa Monica, verse drama by Majid Naficy, with music by cellist Homayoun Khosravi
Annenberg Community Beach House, 415 Pacific Coast Hwy, Santa Monica, CA 90401
Monday, 1/18/10, 6:30pm
Free Event. Reservations are required at http://beachculture24.eventbrite.com. Parking $3/hr, free after sunset.