Leila Farjami's verse ebbs like a tide across the page, it haunts like a ghost, tugs like a mother's insistent hand. Her poems mine the ruins of a patriarchy, bring forth the bodies and force us to see what happens in the shadows. Daughter of Salt (Trio House Press) is her debut poetry collection—in it Farjami transports us to the early 70s as a child, bathing in the Caspian Sea with her bikini-clad mother. The tranquility's short lived. Flash forward to 1978—the revolution, bombs, starvation, terror.
The cycles of power, patriarchy, and repression plague women in the poems that follow. Farjami's assured verse carries her readers through the wreckage. Her poems pay tribute to generations of women married too young, forced to prove their virginity, then covered in chadors, hidden behind doors. They also provide glimpses into a challenging immigrant experience in the United States. And eventually, how a daughter pays tribute to her mother and provides final care and passage.
I was beyond touched by Farjami's work; it's writing of the highest order. Perhaps there is no better time to read it than now, as Iran and the U.S. clash once more, and women bear the brunt of suffering under rules that destabilize economies, families, and society at large.
Farjami joined us recently to share her poetic development and influences over the years, as well as the books and poets she's reading now. Our interview with her follows.
Welcome to the Poetry Shop 5, Leila Farjami! We always start by asking our guests about their "gateway poet". Which writer first sparked your interest in poetry?
My gateway poet in Persian was Hafez. His poems were part of the landscape of my childhood. I still hear my mother’s voice reading his ghazals to me when I was very young and not yet literate.
In English, that role belonged to Sylvia Plath. Discovering her work was a revelation. I began with her fiction first, in high school as a new immigrant in America, then realized she was a poet and became quickly attached to her poems. She molds language and expands it in ways I did not think possible. Unlike the Persian poetry I grew up with, her language is not filigreed or embellished. It is straightforward, at times even bare, but extremely incisive and profound. The subjects she takes on, the dance between existence and death, despair and ache, felt entirely new to me from a female perspective. It was a form of sorcery. I was completely entranced by her work, and still am, so much so that I have translated most of her poems into Persian.
Which poetry book are you currently reading?
I’m currently reading Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz, a deeply rebellious yet disciplined journey through land, identity, desire, and the body. I’m struck by the way Diaz weaves the intimate with the political. Her language is precise and defiant.
Is there a book on the craft of writing that you recommend to poets?
Real Sofistikashun by Tony Hoagland. Excellent examples. He quotes extensively from contemporary poets and walks through passages line by line, showing why they work.
Who is a new voice in poetry that we need to check out–someone with a debut book or recent release?
Nina C. Peláez's poems are luminous, intimate, and emotionally precise. I'm drawn to the way she moves effortlessly between personal memory, family history, and cultural inheritance, allowing tenderness and grief to coexist without sentimentality. (Her debut chapbook, In the House of Men, is forthcoming from Tupelo Press).
Finally, what’s a poetry book that others may not know about but deserves a shout out?
Daughter of Three Gone Kingdoms by Joan Kwon Glass is immediately engrossing, palpably alive with grief and resilience. Rooted in Korean-American culture and history, it offers a luminous encounter with the self in its most authentic and illuminating state, through language that is highly crafted, precise, and alive with mystery and nuance.
About Leila Farjami
Leila Farjami is an Iranian-American poet, translator, and psychotherapist based in Los Angeles. Her debut collection, Daughter of Salt (Trio House Press, 2026), was selected as an Editor's Selection. The poems explore war, migration, loss, memory, and the complicated inheritance of homeland, tracing how historical violence echoes through families and across generations. She is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, The Iowa Review Award in Poetry, The Cincinnati Review's Schiff Award, and a PEN America Emerging Voices Fellowship. Her poems appear in Ploughshares, The Iowa Review, AGNI, The Missouri Review, Copper Nickel, and elsewhere. Learn more at leilafarjami.com or on Instagram at @leila_poetry.
Books referenced in this article.
Daughter of Salt (Trio House Press) by Leila Farjami
The collected works of Hafez & Sylvia Plath
Postcolonial Love Poem (Graywolf Press) by Natalie Diaz
Real Sofistikashun by Tony Hoagland
In the House of Men (Tupelo Press) by Nina C. Peláez (*forthcoming*)
Daughter of Three Gone Kingdoms (Perugia Press) by Joan Kwon Glass