Moujan Moghimi
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Different Titles, Different Worlds I must wonder, It is time for show and tell. How sad it must be to live a life stuck in only Today I present my culture, one story. I share with you stories of where I am from, The things I know, But I am simply the jest, The things I have seen. To such royalty. I let the words of my people roll off my I am the third world country, tongue, In an array of first world people. And watch as you admire me. I just don't understand why they call You say ooh, themselves first, And ah. When Persia existed before them. Wide eyes watching me as I go through it Or is it first, all. Because it took over everywhere. You applaud me when I am done, Enslaved everywhere. As I bow down, Destroyed everywhere. Whisper my thanks, Used violence to get whatever it wants I am ushered off the stage. everywhere. Won first place by cutting everyone else My heart is soaring, until we bled onto our own children I have done it I say. everywhere. I have shared with them who I am, Gave them pieces of myself, But alas, And watched their love rise. I am not allowed to question. I turn to my audience once more, I am just a joker, Wanting to catch their eyes, Whose head hangs in the balance. But they have moved on. To question their nation, And this is when I realize, Is to risk my life, I am simply the joker. So I will stay silent, A mere act to put on for their entertainment, Answer whatever question you have about But the second I leave, Iran. My words leave with me. Like are you Muslim? This is just show and tell, Are you oppressed by your government? An experience for them. Is it scary there with all the terrorists? For they do not live in Iran, How dangerous is it there? So why should they care? Does music exist there? They will not go to Iran, Does technology exist there? So why should they care? Is that in Africa? They cannot even pronounce Iran, Does that place really exist? So why should they care? And more questions on and on, I am just a story, Until my tongue slips, Just a fairytale. And I must respond with, The words I share hold no meaning to them, Are you Christian? But are everything to me. Are you oppressed by your government? And as I stare back at them, Is it scary there with all the terrorists? How dangerous is it there? Different worlds. Does rhythm exist there? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Does fast technology exist there? Peace Is that in South America? I stare at the screen willing it to give me meaning. Does that place actually believe it's the I don’t know what to say, best? Don’t know where to begin, I’m asking for help, You see, For a push to make it all end. The question you ask me, I never liked the beach. Are the questions I can ask you. Hated how the water went into my nose, You say my government oppresses me, And how the sand would never leave my toes, I say yours does too. But I keep drifting back to the water. You say it is dangerous there, I say look at your own blood first. Keep finding myself longing to swim, You want to compare our two nations, To float in the waves, But ignore how similar their wounds look. Feel them as they wash over me. Refuse to see how red their blood is, I don’t know what it is, How it’s woven into their flags. It feels like I’m being reborn. You like to talk all high and mighty, But if I don’t get up quickly enough it’s like I’m drowning, Hide behind your first world class, Like the waves are holding my head underwater, As though you are superior. And I’m not strong enough to push it off anymore, So I’m floating underneath. If only our army won, Pretending I can breathe, Maybe you’d be the jest instead, Because if I’m going to die, Sitting here writing this poem. I’d rather do it calmly. Complaining that we are all the same, I’ve been fighting my entire life, So why do they still act as though they have I don’t want to die doing it too. won a battle, I don’t know what I’m saying. No one asked for in the first place. Everything is crazy, But your army did win, My brain is just mush. And they made us the jest. Drowning. A puppet on your string, I guess I didn’t get up quick enough. Forcing me to dance along. But it’s been so long, So I show you my story, I don’t know how to breathe again. Tell it in a playful song, I’ve made a home in the water, And once I’m done, And it’s killing me. I’ll do it all over again. But I found peace, Hoping one day you’ll see, The thing I’ve been searching so long for, When you stand next to me, To finally stop fighting, We look the same. Except I am the prisoner, To be calm, And you are the guard. To be at peace. Different titles, So why does it still feel so suffocating? Make us, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If I could talk to Icarus And you feel nothing but warmth. I would ask him why. Had you been so lonely that all you wanted to Why after everything, do was chase after it, All the time stuck in that prison, Beg for a hug, Thinking, Beg for it to hold you and never let go. Devising, But you must have realized, Creating the perfect plan, That eventually, Accomplishing the impossible, Its warmth was too much. Defying basic laws of physic, How could you have not read the warning Flying! signs? Why throw it all away, Your skin began to blister, And burn yourself? You were melting, Yet you still flew higher and higher. They say you did it because you were so Why didn’t you stop? overjoyed. Why didn’t you run away? So blinded by your excitement of wings, Why did you seek out the pain? You flew so high you reached the sun, It killed you. And burned on your way down. But I have to ask, They say you’re nothing but ashes now. Did you not feel the warmth on your skin? Lost in the ocean never to be found again. Was your not skin not crying out at you to Scattered around like lost pieces awaiting the run, end of this puzzle, To turn away and never go so close again? But you can’t be pieced together again. Did your eyes not burst out attempting to Everything of you was stolen. water your blistering, burning skin? Your father says all he has left of you is your What kind of happiness hides pain? scream. Hides death? This is all you are now, So why? A story. Why go so close to something that offers no A legend. solace? A warning. That’s warmth is in contrast to its Don’t go too close to the sun, hideousness inside. For it will burn you. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, At first touch of its rays, For all that will come is pain. Did you think it would be like a hug? Like those amazing ones that envelop you, Was it worth it? The burn, I am life that you cannot end. The fall, I survived in spite of you, The flight. And you can live knowing the misery you Did you get the hug you wanted, caused me, Or were you not even spared that kindness? And I hope you know, Were all your last moments coated in pain? That after everything, Is that all we remember, You didn’t get me. The pain. I lived and planted beauty into this world. I hope it doesn’t hurt anymore. I did what you couldn’t, That the ocean may have soothed your burns, I healed myself. That you may find worth in yourself and heal. I hope you grew real wings and danced on the Icarus, sun laughing, Did you ever heal yourself? Saying you won. Did you ever forgive the sun? But I understand if you cried rivers before it. I hope you did. I understand if you wallowed in pain and Not because the sun deserves it, misery, But because you do. I understand if you kept staring so afraid of You deserve to grow, the sun, To heal, I understand if you were nervous, To become a garden so beautiful the sun I understand if you never did it. weeps for what it has done. Let the sun drown in the forgiveness it is not We all reach for warmth, worthy of, For love, Begging that one day, For a hug, It can only be half as warm as you are. And sometimes what we receive in return grates against us. Icarus, Stranding us as pieces of ash floating away. When you dance on the sun, We have cried oceans to heal our pain, Can I join you in laughing at our demons. Pain from which some of us have never Can we exchange scars with flowers, recovered from, Can we fly so high, But we all wish to dance on the sun.