December 7, 2022 - “The Blue String” by Rahil Najafabadi

THE BLUE STRING
To Negin

I thought there’d be people waiting oceans away,
ready to listen and drown with us in our history.
We flew past the mountains and reached the cold,
but the people were no longer there. We were alone.
You and I built them as figments of our imagination,
but they took boats and grew nude for the water
even in the absence of waves, in the bloodiest winter.
All I wanted to tell them was a tale of my womanhood––
Of yours, the one we were deprived. They’ve moved on,
and they suggest we should do the same. Think ahead.
But there is a thread or two between us, hanging
from a portrait of my friend. She will stand still,
She will stare from the distance of a painting or a photograph.
The remains are between us with the blue string attached.


The Blue String is written to and about Negin Mahzoun, an Iranian artist based in New York. Her work deeply affected me and brought out emotions about womanhood that are best displayed within her work. Negin works with different mediums and her work involves self-portraits. The piece that urged me to write this poem had stitches with blue thread over a printed image on fabric, which was about her experience with the cold, women of different cultures, and the sea. I dedicate this poem to her.