Written by: Leila Sadeghi
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Tehran People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Cars People Tehran just is a regrettable place |
“Tehran” is a poem in the recent collection entitled Haom by Iranian poet, Mohammad Azarm. In this poem, meaning is revealed through the iconic functioning of signs. The repetitive presence of the two simple signifiers, “People” and “Cars,” forms the axial sign system of the poem and forces metaphoric interpretation of the text as a space in which People and Cars (objects) are equally present and therefore of identical value. At this first level of semiotic analysis (the attributive layer), these repetitions at the micro-level suggest the routines and common events of daily urban life. As a result, the schema of ‘daily life is monotony’ emerges. Since there is not any verb in the poem until the last half-line, at the second level (relational layer), the relation between the signs in the micro-level signify impractical repeating, purposelessness and the impossibility of change, two words which could be considered as paradox functionally. It means people and machines may exhibit apparently contradictory characteristics such as activeness/inactiveness, being alive/being dead, nature/culture, etc. In this relation,the signs in the sign system including "Tehran" remain neutral and simply urban until the last line; while we read "regrettable", then one entity may affect another one and neutralize it. The presence of Entity 1 (people) as a sign could not change Entity 2 (car) into a sympathetic entity, but the presence of Entity 2 (Car) could neutralize human feeling and sympathy of Entity 1 (people), so the schema of ‘people are objects’ and ‘life is purposeless’ is created. It is worth mentioning that the most significant sign system in the poem starts with the word ‘people’ and closes with the same word. In conclusion the focus is on the life and destiny of human being, not machine.
At the last layer which is called system level, a new window could be open for the interpretation through looking on the holistic word of the poem and its items which could be effective on the interpretation. The ‘space’ of the poem ironically is like Tehran as a capital city which is metonymically refers to the government. What is more, Tehran is a crowded city with no free space for any other word just People and Machines. Therefore Tehran is a regrettable place to live in terms of social as well as political condition. Human being desires to have freedom to move, to choose his/her living style, to breath fresh air in metaphoric and non-metaphoric sense. Since Tehran is full of similar people and cars with no change in life style, is a boring city to live. Everything is pre-determined, closed by the structure of the poem as a superior system who governs on the words. To sum up, as the last stanza, Tehran is a regrettable and shameful place for people as well as for the governors due to no different beliefs and desires having right to be expressed. Tehran is a peaceful place just for the machines, which could move regularly with pre-determine rule, with no different desire and feeling.