BARAYE IRAN│FOR IRAN
Have you ever been in love with a stranger?
Hints of cardamom, jasmine, and rose water tease your nostrils to ease in closer
But you can’t go there anymore
For your ancestors still wince at the memory of the burn
Have you ever been in love with a stranger?
Though you’ve never met, you long to dwell in her temples and mosques
To visit the Caspian sea –where your father was still whole
A sense of wonder with which you’re awe struck
Have you ever been in love with a stranger?
Mesmerized by the movement of her hips
Sights, scents, sweets, and sours you’ve grown impossibly close to
And yet, still miss the mark
Have you ever been in love with a stranger?
A foreign experience with which you’re estranged
Though you pray to grow nearer
Reflecting on her undeniable impact
Have you ever been in love with a stranger?
Salivating as gheimeh over tadig passes you by
Your stomach aching from too much lavashak, though you stay wanting more
So you pray for a reunion, merely a visit
To be in love with a stranger
The tension between you and a home you’ve never been
I suppose it’s better to have witnessed her from afarT
han never to have been touched by her power at all
Published in Songs of the Earth, Nov 2024 by the LA Public Library; originally written November 30, 2022 for The Immigrants' Cookbook
Shelter
How beautiful
Your language reads
With its dancing curves
The seeds planted beneath
And the dots of rain overhead
How beautiful
Your language reads
With its caves for warm shelter
And dips built into its foundation
So that we may lay our heads
How beautiful
Our language reads
Leading me not only to the intersection of our hearts
But also views from the highest of hilltops
Where I may find our world and you, at ease, too
Tehrangeles
This is a part of myself
I long not to hide
Though you see the heart wrenching bits on display
Forget not the richness of my culture
The scents of her cuisine
They greet you warmly in the doorway
Lived-in, with a rich history
Please don’t let the fanatics fool you
Our script is beautiful
The imagery of our metaphors
Sometimes even dancing with your own
Lending a word or more
Inspiring art forms
Intoxicating hearts across time and borders
Please don’t shrink the multitudes
Those I would not be here without
To only muse upon the sights and landmarks
Between its temples and mosques, unknown to me
A place my grandparents wed
These beautiful pieces of the bigger picture
You don’t see in the news
The framework before you
Housing a soul
Forget not how she willed
And warned you
The dangers of division and polarity, repeated through millenia
In its true essence, unbounding connection
Pouring you a warm chai
A RECLAIMING
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This body is mine
This body that you tell
Is too thick or thin
This one that you assert should be hairless
That you dare to consider developing a wrinkle
This body is mine
The one that you recommend fixing the gap bw her 2 front teeth
“For you would appear much more beautiful”
Did you think
That I was asking for revisions to this?
As if I did not care for my grandmother’s attributes
This body is mine
Miss me with your ideas about
What it means
To be sexy, but not expressive
To be smart, but not intimidating
I am letting you know now, this is mine
If you thought I was placed here
To appeal to you
You must not have realized
The purpose with which I was anointed
Seemingly having confused my autonomy for your own...
The one you’ve wondered belongs to whom...?
This body
This body is Mine
Lillian Farzan-Kashani, July 13, 2020