October 7, 2022 - Rahil Najafabadi’s “Red River”

Written By Curlew New York

RED RIVER  

I am Iran––
I dress for death in a white shroud, not a black veil.
The thorns on Sohrab’s rose pierce my skin,
but the love is still a stream of my blood.

رود خون 

من ایرانم؛
.کفنم سفید است، نه سیاه
از گل سهراب خارش ماند در رگم
.و عشقش ز خونم جاری

This poem was written as a response to Sohrab Sepehri’s poem “Darkness.” Sohrab Sepehri was one of the most influential contemporary poets of Iran. Within the poem, he writes “I am a muslim, my Qibla is a red rose.” This poem hopes to revive the Iranian love that is always a current within all Iranians, a quality they express through their poetry regardless of religion, ethnicity, gender, nationality, and language. “Red River” is also an elegy for Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, Hadis Najafi, and Nika Shakarami, among other countless brave women and men in Iran fighting for freedom.

Curlew New York https://www.CurlewNewYork.com
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October 6, 2022 - Daniel Damiano’s “Brooklyn Street, Sunset Park, Early September”