Reviews
Playfully, humorously, Sedarat confronts issues such as religious hypocrisy and dogma head on…. Though Ghazal Games may appear a broadly experimental endeavor at first, its tone and carefully crafted phraseology remain consistent throughout. It is an excellent educational tool for creative writers and, as the following selections demonstrate, a delightful read." — Frontline, Tehran Bureau", "In his new collection of poetry, Roger Sedarat strikes the perfect balance between Eastern and Western expression, between the modern and the medieval, and between the sacred and the profane. A delight on every page, one can't help but imagine that if Hafez, Rumi, and other Sufi mystic poets — even Goethe — were transported to the twenty–first century, their tweets might read something like this." — Hooman Majd, author of The Ayatollahs' Democracy: An Iranian Challenge , These poems are to be savored in their audacity - in turn witty, erotic, ludic, learned, engaged. Roger Sedarat's ghazals bridge the form's (and the poet's) Persian sources to American demotic language, and open couplet windows on transnational reality. Marilyn Hacker - winner of the National Book Award and author of Names: Poems , In his new collection of poetry, Roger Sedarat strikes the perfect balance between Eastern and Western expression, between the modern and the medieval, and between the sacred and the profane. A delight on every page, one can't help but imagine that if Hafez, Rumi, and other Sufi mystic poets - even Goethe - were transported to the twentyfirst century, their tweets might read something like this. Hooman Majd - author of The Ayatollahs' Democracy: An Iranian Challenge , "These poems are to be savored in their audacity — in turn witty, erotic, ludic, learned, engaged. Roger Sedarat's ghazals bridge the form's (and the poet's) Persian sources to American demotic language, and open couplet windows on transnational reality." — Marilyn Hacker, winner of the National Book Award and author of Names: Poems , "In his new collection of poetry, Roger Sedarat strikes the perfect balance between Eastern and Western expression, between the modern and the medieval, and between the sacred and the profane. A delight on every page, one can't help but imagine that if Hafez, Rumi, and other Sufi mystic poets -- even Goethe -- were transported to the twenty-first century, their tweets might read something like this."--Hooman Majd, author of The Ayatollahs' Democracy: An Iranian Challenge, "Playfully, humorously, Sedarat confronts issues such as religious hypocrisy and dogma head on.... Though Ghazal Games may appear a broadly experimental endeavor at first, its tone and carefully crafted phraseology remain consistent throughout. It is an excellent educational tool for creative writers and, as the following selections demonstrate, a delightful read."-- Frontline , "Tehran Bureau", "Ghazal Games overflows with intelligent charm: its well-formed couplets, fueled by iconoclasm, are blessed with clarity, goodheartedness, pizzazz, and prankishness. Let's crown Roger Sedarat the king of Carnival; long may he reign." — Wayne Koestenbaum, author of Best–Selling Jewish Porn Films , " Ghazal Games overflows with intelligent charm: its well-formed couplets, fueledby iconoclasm, are blessed with clarity, goodheartedness, pizzazz, and prankishness. Let's crown Roger Sedarat the king of Carnival; long may he reign."--Wayne Koestenbaum, author of Best-Selling Jewish Porn Films, Ghazal Games overflows with intelligent charm: its well-formed couplets, fueled by iconoclasm, are blessed with clarity, goodheartedness, pizzazz, and prankishness. Let's crown Roger Sedarat the king of Carnival; long may he reign. Wayne Koestenbaum - author of BestSelling Jewish Porn Films , "These poems are to be savored in their audacity -- in turn witty, erotic, ludic, learned, engaged. Roger Sedarat 's ghazals bridge the form's (and the poet's) Persian sources to American demotic language, and open couplet windows on transnational reality."--Marilyn Hacker, winner of the National Book Award and author of Names: Poems, These poems are to be savored in their audacity -- in turn witty, erotic, ludic, learned, engaged. Roger Sedarat's ghazals bridge the form's (and the poet's) Persian sources to American demotic language, and open couplet windows on transnational reality. Marilyn Hacker -- winner of the National Book Award and author of Names: Poems , In his new collection of poetry, Roger Sedarat strikes the perfect balance between Eastern and Western expression, between the modern and the medieval, and between the sacred and the profane. A delight on every page, one can't help but imagine that if Hafez, Rumi, and other Sufi mystic poets -- even Goethe -- were transported to the twenty-first century, their tweets might read something like this. Hooman Majd -- author of The Ayatollahs' Democracy: An Iranian Challenge , Ghazal Games overflows with intelligent charm: its well-formed couplets, fueled by iconoclasm, are blessed with clarity, goodheartedness, pizzazz, and prankishness. Let's crown Roger Sedarat the king of Carnival; long may he reign. Wayne Koestenbaum -- author of Best-Selling Jewish Porn Films , Now more than ever, the world needs to hear from Roger Sedarat. Since his career began, he's been raging against oppressive regimes throughout the world, but his focus is Iran. He wants his work to help the Iranian people seize their country for their own. Sometimes this plays out in a symbolic way in his work, and sometimes in more literal fashion. He laments lost loved ones, lost human rights, and lost culture. He focuses his anger to a point and uses it to change people's minds." — Stuff for the Teen Age, a blog of The New York Public Library
