POETRY

Masjid Soleiman’s summer heat

Highlights sweaty strands

scattered on the wet mud ground

Long red hair

braided

Softly on each shoulder

Home —

Ounces of opium

on a day

Monday, Tuesday

(ghesmat bood degeh)

Oh

and God

Separate you and me

From seven to twenty seven

The same questions repeat

“You look just like her”

...

“Nothing like her”

Tall

Short

Stunning

Revolutionary

A rebellious spirit

gone bad

levah1

A selfish woman really

Not a picture,

a single frame:

Stories recounted

Ceremonies guised in language

And bracket merge

From one generation

to the next

And I’ve seen it

green piercing Bakhtiari eyes

Revealed in the stories

disembodied sight

in my cousins’ stares

So maybe by chance

By the same God

On another Monday or Tuesday

Ghesmat and we

Will meet

I would like to thank Lisa Arnold and Erica Mena for editing this version