As part of Manifesting Differently, I collaborated with visual artist, Katayoun Bahrami on her mural The Resilience of Poppies, ايداري شقايق ها. I’m utterly honored and gratified by our work together to highlight the #WomenLifeFreedom movement in Iran. The background of the mural is comprised of the first stanza of my poem “field of vision” translated into Persian/Farsi by Dr. Mahnaz Badihian.

field of vision

each time the sun rises, give me a poppy and i’ll grow another beacon with vision despite the darkness. here outside hands refused help when their beloved’s deaths could be brushed under dirt rugs, relegated as tales of bad actors grew anew. we see women sick for freedom despite their eyes being shot out, resisting pellets attempting to block sight for a future where their hair can blow free. 

the state wishes for another grave to dig. give it to the spiders to hunt them without burden. feasting spiders on old webs to spin new homes for us to live in, littered with eyes before and after everything went dark. 

here in this land we tend, hope is never in the past but building a memory of a bright future. it’s not desperation, yet a command. we will not bow to a regime that doesn’t hand down a future worth living. i’ll dance in multiple glorified mirrors with veils snatched from my own youth on foreign soil to make it so. yet this soil became home, deep-sighted despite best intentions.  

give me a poppy each time the sun rises, and i’ll trudge through cloth with midnight bright within eyeshot. her lost eyes will keep me warm, the center of each red petal dipping into pollen to bring sweet honey into golden light. filter and dig our courage into a well-worn meadow to grow unruly with liberty. 

give me a poppy each time the sun rises and i’ll wash away the target on their heads, spiraling curls shining in the sun beckoning attention. the artifice amongst propriety buffs into a veneer of foolish safety. with malice glittering in storm-backed smiles promising something worse lingering above the horizon once more, a refusal. no more capitulation to a regime eating itself inside out. it would rather kill you than itself. what else does power want? perpetual motion for growth that doesn’t exist. 

give me a poppy each time the sun rises and i’ll take you deep within a cave, where hearts beat a well of red palm prints. freedom greets us as markers of entropy. each circle daubed with mercy, despite the utter brutality meted out on our bodies as we climbed into its quarry. they whisper like palms do when hitting scarlet blooming flesh, each step breaking new ground,  trampling fresh growth waiting for youth to breath into each step. 

the path is long yet we shall still walk it together. i know where eyes go once they are removed from freedom’s skull. into skilled hands skinning fur, handing them to the spider. she will weave them watching the trail to justice unfurl. each day is eaten and folded like a fitted sheet, each eye smashed into the ground to create fertilizer

for poppies to grow.

This last weekend marked one year since Mahsa Amini’s tragic death by the Islamic Republic of Iran. As a child of the diaspora, I know that it’s literally the least I can do to help raise awareness around what the women of Iran are fighting for, freedom for bodily autonomy, the right to move as freely as their male Iranian citizens, and so much more. The transgender women of Iran also deserve a voice in this conversation.

As a result of the protests in Iran, the Islamic Republic has targeted those protesting by shooting them in the eyes, breasts, and groin area. This is a deliberate and vicious attempt to maintain power through physcial intimidation. It will not work. As one protester said after she was shot “you can still fight for freedom with one eye.”

”Resilience of Poppies, پايداري شقايق ها” is part of the Manifest Differently Project in collaboration with Clarion Alley Mural Project (CAMP) and funded by Caple Impact Awards.