Two poems from Sheema Kalbasi’s new bilingual anthology of Persian poetry:
WITH YOU
Your tender revolt
Contained by the illicit apple
Pounds in red
And your eyes’ shattered diamond
A woman in seclusion
Revolves into a star
With you
On the surface of water
I am thirsty
Place the skies in your eyes
Blaze out the star
So that I can see you
The sea is peaceful
Silent…
— Mehri Rahmani
THOSE DAYS
Those days
Poetry
Was my room
And wherever I felt unsafe
I gravitated into its eternal sanctuary.
These days
There aren’t any rooms
That can harbor me against the crowd
and behind every window
inside and outside every room
a two-faced clown sneers.
— Fereshteh Sari
Copyright © 2008 by Sheema Kalbasi. All Rights Reserved.
