Synkroniciti is excited to welcome writer and poet Martin Foroz, based in Oman. “Standing” is a reverse poem, intended to be read from the bottom up, which pairs well with the narrative of a boy coming of age and learning to stand up and be mature. He is faced with a choice as to what kind of man he will become, one accustomed to ” judging the “Otherness” with a frown” like his father, or one who finds “a barbaric gentle manhood”? Reading top down leans more toward the first option, while bucking convention and reading bottom up is more the second and produces a sense of delight and achievement. The vulnerable acknowledgement that young men feel unsure and frightened of growing up is much healthier than the bravado and displays of masculinity that society encourages. Martin’s writing is clever and has an infectious bounce that makes you smile at innocence and root for this boy trying to find a better form of manhood than what has been modeled for him.
Read “Standing” in Synkroniciti’s “Identity” issue, available for purchase here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Martin Foroz (Mohammad Forouzani) is an Iranian writer currently living in Oman as an expatriate English Language and Literature professor. Martin has published several English poems in literary magazines, three poetry collections and a collection of Persian short stories. Some of his poems in video format are available on his YouTube page. Martin has also written plays in English and Farsi as well as a feature spy-thriller, Aliyah, which has (so far) been announced Nominee at Swiss Alpenglow International Film Festival 2024 and Finalist at the Los Angeles Film Awards 2024.
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