Payam Feili was born in 1985 in Kermanshah, a city in western Iran. He is a homosexual writer and poet whose works are condemned in Iran due to his sexual orientation. His first book, The Sun’s Platform, was published in Iran when he was nineteen. The book was heavily censored by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Since his subsequent works could not get through the ministry, he started to publish his books outside Iran knowing that it may cause him problems and put him in danger. He has a dozen books that haven’t been able to be published yet. One of his recent poetry books, White Field, has been published in Persian by Nogaam publishing in London in July 2013.

The translator of this poem is working anonymously with Nogaam publishing to bring Payam’s writing to an international audience.