By Persis M. Karim
These are hopeful, dismal days.
We sit by a computer waiting for a sliver
of light and news to cut through
darkness. Names smeared and women
weep for sons and daughters disappeared
or discovered beaten in jails.
There is an echo to all this.
This is not a revolution. Yet
we wonder what it is.
The turbaned men unleash their thugs
And on the rooftops at dusk, the cries
of young people, invoking
Allah-u Akbar — God is Great!
Today, the smoke has cleared
and streets are quelled into submission.
But my cousin’s voice through the telephone
is decidedly clear: we will never forget those days
when we walked arm-in-arm fearless —
mouths silent, but hearts full
of a truth that has left them shaking.
Persis M. Karim is the editor and contributing poet to Let Me Tell You Where I’ve Been: New Writing by Women of the Iranian Diaspora (2006) and co-editor of A World Between: Poems, Short Stories and Essays by Iranian-Americans (1999). She teaches literature and creative writing at San Jose State University, and is the founder and co-director of the Association of Iranian American Writers.