Welcome back to the Wild Heart Podcast with Willow Brook where we explore divinity in daily life with themes of love, mysticism, grief as a spiritual path, and sensual embodiment.

In this episode, the inspiring artist, poet, performer and translator of Rumi’s poetry, Haleh Liza Gafori explores love, ecstasy, and grief found in Rumi's work, as well as the transformative relationship between Rumi and his teacher, Shams of Tabriz. Haleh shares her personal journey with translating Rumi's rhythmic Persian poetry and what it has to share with us in these times.

Haleh Liza Gafori is a translator, performance artist, poet, vocalist, and educator born in NYC of Persian descent. Her acclaimed translations of poetry by the 13th century sage Rumi have been collected in two volumes, Gold (2022) and Water (2025).

With ears tuned to the music of American free verse as well as to the subtleties of the Persian lines, Gafori aims to transmit the whirling movement and leaping progression of thought and imagery in Rumi’s poems into contemporary American poetry while uncovering how urgently and tenderly his poetry dialogues with our times.

Sharing her passion for Rumi’s poetry and the liberating messages that pulse through them, she performs her cross-media performance piece in which she weaves recitation in English, commentary, and songs featuring Rumi's poetry in Persian, giving audiences glimpses of the astonishing rhythm and wordplay that pervade his original text.

Learn more at www.halehliza.com @halehliza

Order Haleh’s ecstatic translations of Rumi:

GOLD

WATER

If this conversation opened your wild heart, we invite you to join an upcoming event with our community at ⁠wildheart.space⁠

Writing Across the Veil: Use Your Imagination to Connect to the Ancestors with Mirabai Starr

Oct 24-26

Early bird rates before Oct 7

A spiritually embodied writing practice to deepen our relationship with those who have passed

Links:

Connect with Haleh: www.halehliza.com

IG: @halehliza