Classical Persian poetry stretches back well into the 9th century CE (same time as Beowulf, for instance) and has been a vital part of Persian culture ever since. Tony will introduce some of the forms and features of this great tradition, which include four-line verses on love, wine, and gardens, epic poems on Persian history, epic poetic love stories, and the great tradition of Sufi poets, such as Rumi and Hafez, who speak of God, pre-eternity, and the mad devotion to their teachers. In our day and age, we are blessed with an abundance of well-translated Persian poetry, and Tony’s hope is to offer some reasons for people to explore it further.