Novelettes
Short prose by Hadi Pakzad, the Iranian rock singer and songwriter: 32 pieces, from his letters to “Lovesickness”, translated from the Persian originals.
Short Musings by Hadi Pakzad
• Sleep while you're alive; after death, sleep is no pleasure. • People change; some jerk has already tried his luck. • As the altitude rises you feel pride; higher…
The Laboratory
A laboratory is a place that has no creator (God); it has a boss. The boss is the one who profits from founding the laboratory. Mice are bred in the laboratory. The boss…
Untitled — “And That Night I Wrote”
And that night I wrote that I wished I had nothing, and had a child to live for, a child to give my heart to; and I wrote further that if it weren't for all these…
And What About Our Scholars?
Last year one of our country's great scholars was my guest, for a reason other than any merit of my own. He is not only a great philosopher and thinker, he is admired by…
Untitled — “Is Magic an Art Too?”
A friend asked me, is magic an art too? I wanted to say art is magic, then saw that it was a routine, trite answer, and that I don't really know what art is myself. Off…
I'm Done
It was a little past sunset, and once again I'd fallen asleep in the light and woken up in the dark on the couch. I tried to turn on the TV without moving, so its noise…
Untitled — “Who Was the First to Think I Was Bad?”
I don't know: who was the first to think I was bad? I don't remember who first told me I was bad. I've forgotten when I first thought I was doing something bad. I never…
Good Night
Good Night As a child I never by nature counted dolls among my toys. I had no interest in them at all, neither human dolls nor animals. But my sister, who was older than…
Crocodile
Crocodile You know, crocodiles have a hard time walking on land, so they prefer to sit for long stretches, silent and still, under muddy water. Basically they're…
Spy
Spy Honestly, I've worked since I was a kid. Every summer I'd go somewhere to learn a trade. I know repairs, for instance, everything from radios and car stereos to TVs.…
Untitled — “Just Shut Your Mouth”
Just shut your mouth, don't voice your firm convictions, come a little further with my assumptions. From here, look at what the passersby see of us through the window…
What Is Talking
Apart from the linguistic definition, which is the most general of them and settles for the production of sounds to convey meanings, talking is so vast a subject that…
Exhausted Engines
Ever since the first time my balloon burst when I was a child, I've never felt good again. Many times I felt better, but good, no. I mean, everyone loves their balloon…
Chemistry of Love
Chemistry of Love I dedicate this piece to all those who deserved, and still deserve, something better than what has been sold to them in the name of love. Right at the…
The Chair
Part one: it's very strange that the more a person has enjoyed anything in life, the more, in exactly that measure, they suffer from its absence. This is one of those…
The Wrong Door
1. All of us go on strike sometimes; we shut the door of our house or our room on the world and decide to be by ourselves for a while, and well, for eating and washing…
Slavery
Years ago I read somewhere that in Iran each person works for eleven people. I have no interest in political or social debates, but let's extend this to people's…
Don't Become a Dress
The woman I learned love from, unlike most people, who take love to be an exchange and a mutual attraction, believed that love doesn't run in a closed, cycle-like…
Untitled — “The Tragedy of Uselessness”
In the literature of life there is a bitter story called the tragedy of uselessness. The neighbor is hammering a nail into the wall, and that wall is the most important…
Untitled — “Based on a True Story”
Based on a true story. / Have you ever quit something? / Cigarettes, say, or alcohol, or a person, or even a belief. / For some kinds of quitting there are patches, for…