Eddie Nemati: A Poet of Love and Resistance
By Ezat Mossallanejad
The Iranian poet, writer and community activist, Mr. Eddie Nemati (1954-2019) was accepted as a client of the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture (CCVT) on August 28, 2006. He struggled against cancer for years and lost his life on June 09, 2019. He was a survivor of torture and war in his country of origin, Iran. He had languished for five years in Iranian political prisons as a result of his political as well as humanitarian activities under both regimes of the Shah and Khomeini. While in jail, his torturers used notorious techniques of torture against him. He was flogged frequently and was subjected to various abuses by his victimizers. His experiences of torture, war, trauma, and exile had left deep impacts on the physical and psychological well-being of Eddie.
Eddie was born in the oil-producing city of Aghajari, in the Iranian southern province of Khuzestan to a working-class family. He was arrested in 1975, under the Shah of Iran, due to his political and human rights activities. After languishing in jail for more than three years, he was released by people during the Iranian popular uprising of 1978-1979. Eddie continued his struggle for freedom after his release.
Eddie’s close collaborations with the Syndicate of Temporary Workers in the oil-producing city of Abadan led to his arrest under the Islamic Republican regime of Khomeini. He experienced torture and other cruel and inhuman treatment with more intensity this time. After his release, a shadow was following him everywhere. He was left with no option but to escape Iran. With tremendous difficulties, he ended up in Canada as a political refugee.
Eddie was a progressive and dedicated poet and an Iranian Writers Association in Exile member. He was also active with the Organization of the Iranian Revolutionary Workers as a member.
Eddie has received extensive counseling from CCVT and continued with his endeavor to cope with his trauma. During the counseling sessions, I found Eddie highly apprehensive about gross injustices at the global level on the one hand and tranny and exploitation in his country of origin, Iran. Eddie has also shared with me his experience of tremendous hardship in Canada.
Following are Eddie’s reflections about his life and approach to arts and literature:
“In an atmosphere where one could feel the smell of camomile and petroleum, I opened my eyes to this world, and in an attempt to understand the meaning of life, I found a refuge in books. As under tyrannical regimes, there is no demarcation line between arts and literature on the one hand and politics on the other, I engaged myself in politics. The result was having nightmares that continue up to the present time. For a few years also, according to the late Behazin (the Iranian writer), I languished as a guest in their facilities. I returned to the safe coast of life on the waves of people’s uproars. But, before my sweat gets dried, I had to escape and join the refugee population of the world. During all these years, in the crisscrossing spiral route of life, poetry has always been my lovely friend and companion. In order to reflect the events, history keeps a distance from them. Arts and literature, on the contrary, are intrinsically related to human life and existence. Poetry is the closest and the most internal narrator of humanity.” (1)
I have had the opportunity to read almost all of Eddie’s 5 books: Wind, How Many Holes Are There in This Wall? The Last Pomegranate of the Autumn, Stolen Intimacies, Your Eyes: A Window as Vast as the Life. The oppressed poet suffers from the agony of exile. He still carries the memory of his dangerous escape:
We became uprooted
Without binding our loads
With no preparation
During the autumn
The roads were muddy
A cloud of heavy smoke was ascending
From the heart of the forest
We were fleeing from the flames
Four directions had lost their meaning
We were running in a great hurry
To hide from the sharp eyes of the death
In the vastness of the globe
At the mercy of sheer fate.
More than thirty years have passed
Since we have escaped your paradise. (Eddie, N, 2019, Your Eyes: A Window as Vast as the Life, p. 37)
He still suffers from the trauma of exile and the absurdity of human life, despite his passion for love:
Blistering feet
After a long road
I am still dancing
On this fire
Your Eyes’ lyrics
Aflame
The folly of existence. (p. 54)
As a survivor of war, Eddie is well aware of this most cruel absurdity of human history and its devastative consequences:
The meadows are burned
Houses destroyed
Roads
Corpses
The war broke the mirrors
Destroyed homes
And displaced all of us
I mourn with your roots
Oh my homeland
The whirlwind took all your children away. (Eddie, N, The Last Pomegranate of the Autumn, 2017, p. 16)
Eddie feels pain and shares it by linking the past with the future. His deep-rooted agony comes from the omnipotence of tyranny in his country and its impacts on life and civilization. He, however, does not lose hope vis-à-vis the devastating effects of tyranny:
We come from a year of untold stories
The destructive winds blew times and again
Countless flowers were nipped in the bud
The burning smell filled everywhere
The tender boughs in the orchard trails of love
Were turned into piles of ashes
The autumn fell in autumn
We are coming from a year of untold stories
With a heavy load of aspiration on our shoulders. (Eddie, N, Your Eyes: A Window as Vast as the Life, pp. 29-30)
Like many uprooted people, who have lost their homeland due to tyranny and war, he is still astonished why all unbelievable tragedies happened to his people:
What happened?
Where in the history
Did we slumber?
Why checkmate
In the chess game of life? (p. 61)
In spite of his astonishment, Eddie never loses his faith in freedom and emancipation:
You are the aspiration of all the times
I put my feet on the highest peak
To embrace you
O, freedom. (p. 68)
Eddie is a highly romantic poet cherishing love as the free manifestation of the depths of human nature. Love has bestowed him with an intellectual ecstasy surpassing his personal suffering and bitter experiences:
How deep it penetrates
Humans’ souls
This four-letter world: LOVE. (p. 66)
Sing, sing!
Take us to the top-most peak of life
Make us dance
La la la la la la. (p. 46)
Until the autumn passes through
The broken twigs
From the trails of wind
A glass of wine
And your eyes
A Window as widespread as life. (p. 53)
Similar to other uprooted poets, Eddie’s love is mixed with the feeling of loss. His happiness is fleeting and his love hymns are mixed with lamentation. With his artistic talents, Eddie has skillfully utilized symbols in the Iranian culture to reflect on the mass extermination of the Iranian youth during 1981-88:
Ships loaded with mirrors and tulips
Are arriving from the years of love (p. 20)
The use of sarcasm and analogy in the above poem is amazing. The word “ship” is used in a plural form. In my opinion, this speaks to the frequency and the massive nature of the collective trauma. Ships that come from the ocean are used as a pun for the vastness and depth of love. While the “mirror” reflects the tragic events of the past, the tulip is a symbol of the innocent lives of the youth that were taken from them brutally. “Years of love” refer to those years when thousands of young people lived among family members and enjoyed family love.
I always enjoyed Eddie’s poetic conversations. He was a unique person whom I have seen throughout my life thinking in a poetic manner. Eddie will remain alive in my heart as long as I am alive.
Notes
1. Retrieved from the following Farsi website on 11 November2019; the English translation of the Farsi text is mine: https://www.radiozamaneh.com/449353
2. Eddie, N. (2017). Your Eyes: A Window as Vast as the Life. Toronto: Zagros Editions.
3. Eddie, N. (2017). The Last Pomegranate of the Autumn. Toronto: Zagros Editions.