by Fatemeh Shams | Translated by Armen Davoudian
What should I name the bird that soars in ice?
the bud that grows recklessly in February’s frosty mouth the
sun that licks its wounds all night
the sparrow that spends all morning hoping to steal a crumb of bread from
my breakfast
the ashen mass of screams that hatches from its egg each spring and
runs after the swan mother with its mouth open
what should I name that?
soldiers who have abandoned their posts
a wall that no longer stands
I know there is no name for a wall but wall
but there must be a name for all this
for the lake that fills the stretch of death between two walls for the
coffeeshop planted safely over bones of terror for a city that wears the
names of its residents on its skin like tattoos like a faithful lover who will
forever deny her beloved’s death for the way feet stutter on cobblestones
engraved with names, birth years, the date of departure for the Final
Solution.
Always I start by forgetting names
and arrive at poetry.
Fatemeh Shams is the author of two books of poetry in Persian and a critical monograph in English on poetry and politics, A Revolution in Rhyme (Oxford UP). Her poetry has been featured in Poetry Magazine, PBS NewsHour, World Literature Today, and The Penguin Book of Feminist Writing, among other venues. She is Associate Professor of Persian Literature at the University of Pennsylvania.
Armen Davoudian is the author of the poetry collection The Palace of Forty Pillars (Tin House, US; Corsair, UK) and the translator, from Persian, of Hopscotch by Fatemeh Shams (Ugly Duckling Presse, US; Falscrhum, Germany). He grew up in Isfahan, Iran, and is a PhD candidate in English at Stanford University.