by Lillian Farzan-Kashani (Los Angeles, CA)
I pick up a dandelion
While missiles fly overhead
My 34th birthday may be next weekend
Though I try holding on to any semblance of innocence I can muster
This life has become a complicated one
Soldiers to protect and wars I don’t support
Perhaps it was always this way
Though I may not have been privy to it
I have gotten better
At placing down the weight of the world
Reminding myself I am not the governing bodies
Nor people waging wars to sell their weaponry
I am but a person
Celebrating Persian new year
Holding on to tradition while those in my motherland
Have been cut from the world for 3 weeks and counting
Only a person
Running to the bomb shelter
Dog leash and water bottle in hand
Perhaps I dissociate daily from the reality of the situation
Perhaps this is how I survive the reality of the situation
Holding onto joy where I can find it
Maintaining there is still good in people
Even the ones sending the bombs
I suppose anything is possible with empathy
If I could only stretch my mind enough
How I wish the tyrants would do the same
How I wish the simple people were treated as sacred
Lillian Farzan-Kashani is an Iranian American and Jewish therapist, poet, and speaker based in Los Angels, CA. Much her her work is rooted in being a child of immigrants and is reflective of her intersectionality. Read more about her professional and creative pursuits at https:www.lillianfarzan.com/
