Also pronounced Akhavan-e Sales, Mehdi was born in Mashhad, in Khurasan province of north eastern Iran in 1928. In early youth, he became involved in anti-governmental riots, something common in Iran of the 1950s, and was briefly imprisoned after the fall of the government of Musaddiq in 1953.
Whether reformed in prison or otherwise, between 1959 and 1965, he joined the governmental work force and served as a high-school teacher and a grade-school principlal. He also contributed to dubbing and/or narrating educational films, in addition to writing articles for newspapers and popular magazines.
A reluctant follower of Nima Yushij, Sales published his "Organ" (1951) to support contentions against Nima YushijÕs ground-breaking endeavors. But before long he realized that Nima and the modernists emulating him had more to offer than a just a change in rhythm, rhyme, and the general application of the classical Arabic meters.
In 1959, Sales published his "End of the Shahname," wherein he examined some of the contemportarty socio-political problems of Iran in the context of the country's own ancient myths and legends as reported by Firdowsi. And, a year later, he created a complementary view of the same in his "From This Avesta," again indirectly criticizing the government. Retaliating, the government persecuted him and his followers as anarchists. Similar activities in 1967 landed the poet in Qasr prison for a short period.
After his release, as if reformed anew, Sales joined the government work force, this time at a somewhat higher level. He worked for the Ministry of Education as well as for the National Iranian Radio and the National Iranian Radio and Television Organization. By now, both his creative zeal and his stamina to fight the government had come to their end. But for one more burst of creativity, his contributions are repeatedly published and republished. A brief chronology of Sales's works follows:
Chronology
1951 The Organ
1955/56 Winter
1959 The End of the Shahname
1965 From this Avesta
1966 The Hunt
1969/70 In the Small Courtyard of Autumn, in Prison
1972 I Saw Susa
1978 From the Coast and Poems from Khuzistan