Other books that might interest you

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  The Poetry of Hafiz

  Hafiz

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  Khw? ja Shams-ud-D?n Mu?ammad ??fe?-e Sh?r?z? is commonly known to us as Hafiz, the Persian poet who was born in Shiraz, Iran in either 1315 or 1317.  The facts of much of his early life are unknown to us but it is said that, at an early age, he memorized many passages of the Quran and was therefore given the title of Hafiz, which means 'the memorizer or the safe keeper.'  
   
  Hafiz mainly wrote lyric poetry or ghazals - an ideal form for expressing the ecstasy of the divine and the intoxicating mystical union with God.  He was also outspoken on society’s hypocrisy but was supported by patronage during his lifetime from the court of Abu Ishak and succeeding regimes until, towards the end of his life, when he resided at the Court of Timur, more usually known to us as Tamerlane, the conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in modern day Iran and Central Asia. 
   
  Certainly that support enabled Hafiz to devote himself to his writings. Surprisingly there is no definitive version of his collected works (or D?v?n); some editions run to a mere 573 poems others to just shy of a thousand.  However, their beauty and wordplay illuminate why Hafiz was admired so much throughout the Islamic world even during his own lifetime.  He remains one of the most celebrated of the Persian poets and his influence through poems, proverbs and, sayings can be felt to this day.  On various holidays, including 12th October in Iran, Hafiz Day is celebrated: Families will open his D?v?n at random and read aloud that poem, using it as a guide to what may happen next in their lives. 
   
  Hafiz died in 1390. His mausoleum, H?fezieh, is located in the Musalla Gardens in Shiraz.

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  Joy Is So Exhausting

  Susan Holbrook

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  Joyfully melding knowing humour and torqued-up wordplay, Holbrook’s second collection is a comic fusion of the experimental and the experiential, the procedural and the lyric. Punch lines become sucker punches, line breaks slip into breakdowns, the serious plays comical and the comical turns deadly serious. Holbrook's poems don’t use humour as much as they deconstruct the comic impulse, exposing its roots in the political, the psychological and the emotional life of the mind. Many of these poems import shapes and source texts from elsewhere – home inspection reports, tampon instructions, poems by Lorca – in a series of translations, transpositions and transgressions that invite a more intimate and critical rapport with the written word. This is not merely a book, it is a chocolate-covered artificially intelligent virus with an impish sense of humour that will continue to replicate in your mind long after initial exposure.

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  We Lack A Word - A Collection Of...

  A. J. Thibault

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  "The reader forms an attachment to the author/narrator as the parts meld into a story. The majority of the work is one - to two-page vignettes that create almost a novel in verse... Absorbing, an otherwise intriguing window into history." - Kirkus Discoveries 
  "We Lack a Word is definitely a book for seekers and thinkers. A thought-provoking book that stimulates one's intellect. The poetry, all of it, is excellent and meaningful. Readers will be captivated by the vibrant description and the effortless motion of the flowing words... An imagination that exceeds the norm." - IP Book Reviewers

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  A Treatise of Religion

  Fulke Greville

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  Part diatribe, part discourse, part sermon and part stand-up comedy, this is Fulke Greville's 114 stanza, verse-poem about religious hypocrisy. (Summary by Michael Armenta)

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  Only Angels Have Wings -...

  Hollywood Stage Productions

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  Hollywood is indelibly printed in our minds as the ‘go-to’ place for entertainment and has been for decades.  When there really did seem to be more stars in Hollywood than in Heaven Hollywood Stage had them performing films as radio plays – on the sponsors dime of course.  Classic films now become audiobooks with many featuring the original stars from way back when. Here's Only Angels Have Wings starring Cary Grant & Rita Hayworth.

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  The Comeback

  Ben Ashenden, Alex Owen

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  Up-and-coming comics Alex and Ben have been booked in the warm-up spot for a beloved but fading double act's comeback tour. Neither is delighted to be playing to a sparse crowd in a sleepy seaside town – but when it's revealed that a Hollywood director is in the audience, both acts glimpse a final chance for their big break.
  Cue sabotage, mistaken identity and full-on farcical mayhem, as the performance descends into a desperate battle for the limelight. With the action alternating between offstage and on, and the tone between Noises Off and Morecambe and Wise's old-school charm, The Comeback is a heart-warming exploration of bittersweet nostalgia and the enduring power of friendship.
  It is the joyful and dazzlingly funny debut play by The Pin's award-winning Ben Ashenden and Alex Owen – 'destined to become one of the great comedy duos' (Radio Times). It opened at the West End's Noël Coward Theatre in December 2020.
  'A bulletproof nugget of comic theatre' Guardian
  'Will simply make you laugh your socks off'Evening Standard

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