“Be Fearless”

Soheyl Dahi in conversation with the Odditor, Sreemanti Sengupta

Soheyl Dahi was born in a small town by the shores of Caspian Sea. After finishing high school in Iran, he went to England and graduated from Leeds University in 1978. Later that year he moved to United States and has been living in the San Francisco Bay Area ever since. He writes, paints, and publishes poetry.

How did your little magazine journey start?

I graduated from Leeds University in England in 1978 and after a short stay in Iran during the revolution, I eventually got my visa for the United States. I arrived in California on New Year’s day 1979. Almost immediately I fell in love with the beauty and culture of the San Francisco Bay Area and decided there and then that I will make my second home here. Then the hostage crisis occurred which was a terrible time for being an Iranian student or just being Middle Eastern looking. There were reports that Sikhs were attacked mistakenly because of their turbans!

I naturally gravitated towards like-minded Americans. I had heard of the Beat poets, North Beach, Caffe Trieste, and City Lights. My apartment was a walking distance from City Lights, so I took refuge there. Hours upon hours were spent in the poetry section reading and writing my juvenilia poems (I was 24). Some days, I’d see Lawrence Ferlinghetti arrive, but I never dared talking to him. A few times when our eyes met, he’d smile at me and in those turbulent times, his smiles were food for me. I also spent a lot of time at the Caffe Trieste which is still going strong. There I met Bob Kaufman who asked me if I could buy him a cup of coffee. I obliged and we sat and had a conversation. He never asked where I’m from. He always seemed to be somewhere else.

After the hostage crisis was settled and I finished school and later I got a job and started making a very modest living, I discovered the underground poetry scene which was a fabulous and thriving scene. I started submitting my own poems. After a shoebox full of rejections, one of my poems finally got accepted for publication. I remember holding the acceptance letter in my hand and dancing around with joy in my small studio apartment! Then more of my poems got published and eventually I got the idea that why don’t I start my own press?

A folio edition for a poem by Allen Ginsberg that only appeared in his high school Yearbook in 1943. 2023 was the 80th anniversary of his high school graduation. (folio with broadside, photos and original art by me. Ed. of 26).

Class Poem Folio published in 2023 by Sore Dove Press.

What brought about Sore Dove Press and how is it progressing today?

The name of Sore Dove Press was an exercise in Dadaism. I decided the press should have my initials, then I opened the dictionary for the letter S and landed on ‘Sore’ and the same for letter D and landed on ‘Dove.’ Like many poets, my first publication was my own poems. The book, , was published in 1986. I think I sold 5 copies over the years and about 100 copies were given away to friends and strangers. I had other publications in 1990s, but the major take off was with the first book I published for Jack Hirschman, . By then I had a pretty good idea on how to break even or maybe make a small profit too. I had Jack do 26 paintings on paper for the lettered edition of the book and they sold for $100 each. Within a few months, I was in the green. But I promoted it well. We had readings at Specs Bar in North Beach and in the Mission district of San Francisco and Moe’s bookstore in Berkeley. The idea of having a limited edition with art was borrowed from John Martin of Black Sparrow Press. It was brilliant and it really helped the press survive. One thing that I found out over the years was that most poets have a deep interest in art too, so most were willing to do art for their books.

Nowadays, I concentrate on mostly publishing poetry broadsides and artist’s books which allows me to showcase my own art and photography as well. The press is archived at UC Santa Barbara Special Collections Library so hopefully future generations find something that will help them better understand our crazy times.

With Hirschman at Specs Bar in North Beach, reading reception for the publication of his book by Sore Dove Press, I Was Born Murdered. 2007

Meeting Allen Ginsberg at City Lights (that's me!) 1984

Tell us about your close associations with Bay area poets such as Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Diane Di Prima, Joanne Kyger and others.

Years ago, when I was in mid-twenties, I met an older man at a gathering, and he told me that secret to success is the ability to turn a negative into a positive in one’s life. I took that advice to heart. Since my character has always been on the quiet side, I knew that I need to overcome it somehow. When I went to see Jack Hirschman read for the first time, I was floored by the power of his delivery and content. I was certain I wanted this man in my life. After the reading ended, I went up to him and bluntly said ‘Mr. Hirschman, I need to see you again.’ He looked at me intently and said, ‘OK, come tomorrow at 3 o’clock to Caffe Trieste and we’ll chat.’ I did and that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship and collaboration that lasted about 20 years. With Ferlinghetti, it began with an interview in his office at City Lights in 2003. I showed up at his office with a bottle of wine and he was pleasantly surprised and said I have been interviewed by many journalists, but this is the first time that one has brought a bottle of wine for me. Days later, I was at Caffe Trieste with Jack Hirschman and David Meltzer and a bunch of other people. It was a warm day in San Francisco, and we were sitting outside. In those days Ferlinghetti was still biking everywhere, and he showed up on his bike and joined us. Jack and I were discussing a new chapbook that I was going to publish for him and later as we were leaving, Ferlinghetti motioned to me with his hand to come closer, I did and then he quietly said to me ‘Soheyl, I have a few poems that you might like to publish, come by my apartment and I’ll show them to you.’ Wow! I thought to myself, what a competitive spirit he has. He overheard me and Jack talking about publishing, and he doesn’t want to be left out. And this was true for the other poets too. I told Diane di Prima that I’m doing a broadside for Joanne Kyger, and she said, ‘will you do one for me too?’

Wth Ferlinghetti in North Beach, San Francisco 2008

With Ferlinghetti at an Italian Restaurant in North Beach, SF

Tell us about how Hydra: Deeper than Bones came about? What was it like being friends with Leonard Cohen?

All of my poet friends have influenced me. But Jack Hirschman was the Maestro which was my term of endearment for him. He was kind enough to read my manuscripts and edit and critique them. We would meet at the Trieste in his usual corner seat and discuss my work. He would give it to me straight up because he knew I could take it. His big advice was to ‘get out of the self’ and ‘make your poem universal.’ Few times, he wrote me letters to talk about the things that he had forgotten to tell me in person about my work. Hirschman was one of the most disciplined people I ever met. He truly cared about his work and poetry in general. More than once he told me ‘everyone is a poet.’

With Leonard Cohen in Los Angeles 2009

Hydra: The Box Edition with 10 original artworks and additional poems released in 2022 ed. 16

Has your own poetry been influenced by your poet friendships? Tell us some experiences you hold dear in this regard.

Diane di Prima with Jack Hirschman at City Lights in 2013

Poem by Hirschman published by Sore Dove Press.2007

What do you think is the purpose of poetry and art in the age of social media and AI?

Art and poetry have been with us from the beginning. Why do the early cave people drew all those fantastic shapes in their caves? Since they had nothing to gain from their drawings, it tells me that they had a burning need to express themselves and let the future generations know that hey we were here, and these were the things that mattered to them. So to me social media phenomena and AI are all part of that permanent evolution that humans will experience till the end of time. The great Russian psychologist and educator Vygotsky has said that students should always use the tools that their society offers them. I am from a generation who grew up without internet or cell phone. The world is changing all the time as it should. Our greatest tool right now is Social Media. It has democratized the sources of the news we consume. Now, everyone with a cell phone is a reporter. I welcome this evolution in spite being untrustworthy at times. Poetry lives on in Social Media too. Post your poems on Facebook or Instagram or TikTok and you’ll have an audience. If it's any good, it will survive.

Diane di Prima in her apartment. 2005

with Sharon Doubiago and Sarah Menefee at Bird & Beckett Bookstore in San Francisco 2012

You have started making wonderful art. What brought this about and what is your art philosophy?

I started writing and painting around age 10. Both activities were present at the same time. I’m largely self-taught as a painter. I look at both activities as tools for survival. At one time or another both art and poetry have come to my rescue.

Paintings by Soheyl Dahi

What is your overall take on the evolution of poetry from the sixties and seventies? What do you think these eras can teach the young poets of today?

The Sixties was the process of politicization of the young people. They tried something new. They wanted Peace. You can’t blame them for wanting it. I don’t think it's attainable as evil does exist around us and within us. So war is inevitable. As Heraclitus has said: War is the Father of All Things.

The efforts of those young people in the Sixties affected the music, the arts, and the poetry. I think the groundwork for the Sixties was paved by the Beat Generation poets a decade earlier. They rejected the suffocating conservatism and censorship of their societies. Look at what Ferlinghetti did, he almost went to jail for publishing a book of poetry!

Diane di Prima in her apartment. 2005

Out of all the publications you have been involved with, which has left the most enduring impression on you (except Sore Dove)?

A few months before the end of his life, Jack Hirschman introduced me to a remarkable Georgian artist, writer, and publisher, known as ILIAZD(Ilia Zdanevich 1894-1975). By luck, a few weeks later there was an exhibition of his work at Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco. I saw the exhibit and it blew me away. Then I got the idea of publishing something inspired by ILIAZD. In addition to myself, I asked Jack and a fellow creative soul and publisher, Johnny Brewton (X-Ray Book Co.) to do a bunch invented alphabet. I remember doing the project was so exhilarating to me. Unfortunately, a few weeks after Jack finished doing his alphabet, he died and broke my heart.

You have closely followed the little magazine movement of San Francisco area and more. What lessons can you share with the global little magazine founders and owners today?

Get creative in thinking and doing. And be fearless. Whatever your angle is approach it in a fresh and unique way. People often ask me how I got so many poets to say yes to me. I don’t have a secret. I just ask and try to turn a negative into a positive. What’s the harm? The most is they say no.

Some poems by Soheyl Dahi

Tehran (I)

Cars honk

Someone yells: over here!

There’s dust in the air

A rumor of mountains in the horizon

A man walks by

with bread under his arm

Construction workers

taking a break in the shade

Two soldiers stand guard

A half-eaten watermelon

left on the sidewalk

A small boy sweeps the ground

under the watchful eyes of his grandfather

Someone asks me for direction

An ambulance goes by

An old woman asks for money

A young man shines shoes

All this and more

as I stood

on a street corner

and watched

You Know

What matters most

is what the heart wants and

the heart wants what it

can never have

I walk by the hungry

drop coins in their cups

My pain so small

when someone is

bleeding for my kindness

Through the streets

men and women

holding hands

passing me by

I admire them

for not seeing

me or the hungry

Tehran (II)

I know this room, this bed

My father lay there

In the end, mere bones

Fetal, pained

facing the empty walls

It’s my bed now

Free of his scent

I lay half-naked

in white sheets

I listen to the

summer rain

pouring down furiously

from the heavens

cleansing

this city

Morro Rock, CA

In solitude stands

the rock at Morro Bay,

581 feet tall, volcanic, at least 22 million years old,

named El Moro in 1542

by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo

because to him the rock resembled the

turbaned head of a Moor.

Almost next to it

are the 3 tall chimneys of the power plant

shooting up smoke

in the sky

And everyone around here knows

more than 250 species of birds

call this rock

Home.

Love

What I know about love

does not

fill a small bottle

Albinoni’s Adagio in G

rages in my ears

It brought me to this poem

on this Sunday morning

Such absurd endeavors

I subscribed to

Such foolish men

I encountered

Wasted my life

Just to learn that

I am no better

than anyone else

I regret everything