ROOFTOPS OF TEHRAN [Paperback]

In Rooftops of TehranSholeh Wolpé condemns injustices through the highlighted experiences of others – especially women – by bringing into focus realities that are difficult to comprehend even from the safe distance of Anchorage, Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, or London. Wolpé walks an internal-external tightrope that is made all the more powerful when held against the tidal tensions between Washington and Tehran. But the context is impossible to ignore, and largely because of the beauty Sholeh Wolpé draws from within it,Rooftops of Tehranis an uncommon achievement in contemporary American poetry – it is a book that actually matters.

–Jeremy Edward Shiok

"In a world where cultures and religions are recklessly facing off,
Sholeh Wolpe writes careful poems that cast a light on some
of what we all hold in common."   Billy Collins

Sholeh Wolpé’sRooftops of Tehranis that truly rare event: an important book of poetry. Brushing against the grain of Persian-Islamic culture, she sings a deep affection for what she ruffles. Her righteous aversion to male oppression is as broad as the span from Tehran to LA, as deep as a wise woman’s heart. This is a powerful, elegant book.
—Richard Katrovas, author ofPrague WintersandThe Years of Smashing Bricks

In Sholeh Wolpé’sRooftops of Tehran, an unforgettable cast of characters emerges, from the morality policeman with the poison razor blade to the crow-girls flapping their black garments, from the woman with the bee-swarm tattoo emerging from her crotch to the author as a young girl on a Tehran rooftop with a God’s eye view “hovering above a city / where beatings, cheating, prayers, songs, / and kindness are all one color’s shades.” Here is a delicious book of poems, redolent of saffron and stlĂ*