Sassan Tabatabai: Poetry, Observation, and Form

"For me, there is something so solid and comforting in stone" says Sassan Tabatabai in our conversation, and in his poem "Firestones" the words roll, weigh and satisfyingly click together. Firestones I was collecting rocks on the Cardiff coast, a testimony to centuries of silt left on the shore, of sediment pressed into stone: sandstone, shale, tufa, travertine, jasper, flint. There was the stone that knew the sadness of the sea, that saved its secrets. It was pock-marked with holes and lay half-buried in sand eager to save the ocean's spray, like tears, in its miniature pools. There was the stone that always rolled in place. It had rolled round and round with each wave, desperately trying to control the tide. The was the stone that shoe rings upon rings placed by the seas over the years, that kept time for the Pacific. There were stones that breathed sulfur, that sparked when they touched. Unremarkable in luster or shine, they were the lovers of the ocean, firestones whose sparks were not dampened by salty waves (but they only made sense in pairs). And there was this one, more white, more brilliant, more polished than any stone. But it was once upon a shell; it needed centuries to become stone. It was a counterfeit firestone: it did not breathe sulfur, it could not make sparks. I traced my steps back along the Cardiff coast and the stones I returned to the sands. The ocean's secrets would be well-kept by the stones: its tears would be stored in pools, its tides kept in check, its years measured in rungs. But love itself I could not leave on the beach. I kept the firestones. Discussing this poem with Sassan, we touched on Scholar's stones came up and also Gerard Manley Hopkins's journals full of words/names. From here we moved to other poems and poems and Sassan's work in different languages (Persian, English), poetic traditions (haiku, Sufi poetry, ghazal) and activities (writing, translation, teaching). His dissertation on Persian poet Rudaki is mentioned. His "messy" practice across these many boundaries expre