The Tea Drinking Treaty

Pouria Alami: The truth is that before all of this, I am just an ordinary person who, like any other ordinary person, thinks every day and every moment about how I can interact with others. Language, the forms of language, and speaking are the most common means for human coexistence. However, sometimes we overlook the subtleties of language. I am a journalist and satirist, and all of these, in my view, are tools rather than principles. That is, I engage in journalism and write political satire as a way to interact with the world. I have also written serious stories, and even when I post something on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter on the internet, I am interacting with the world and people. Now, poetry is a linguistic capacity that can offer me a new perspective on the world. Nearly all the works I have published are influenced by my social outlook. Perhaps this is due to all the years I have wandered through the press. In reality, when I look at someone (even myself), I cannot ignore the impact of society, politics, and history. This is what causes my work to be categorized as “social,” so to speak. For instance, in this book, I wrote somewhere, “I embrace you / this / is a suicide mission.” You see, if I were in a different geography or a different time, far from the Middle East, it would be impossible to link sublime concepts like love, embracing, and affection to something akin to a suicide mission…