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The Blood Test
I took off the first plaster on the third day. Right on the vein I could see the tiny hole Left by the needle’s puncture. I thought about the results; I craved the sea: The eternal hollow of its belly, My mortality. Food tastes like crinoline now, not of ginger and turmeric, Its devastating carnival…
The Bath House
We go to the public bath-house Gossip house For a good clean-out of body and tongue Old building Still sits ancient Past voices and weary bones Still linger Teenage brides scrubbed till they sparkle When we go in My grandmother takes a ticket Whilst My baby doll sleeps in my arms. Inside the giant hall…
Snapshots of a Wedding
On my wedding day I shine I’m ready for the show Kindly imitating mummy when she married daddy And the grown ups shelter me well Today, I am the news Strange hour, unplanned for In the church Mass production beckons And we line up gradually, uncharged Silent Obedient Defeated Warm wet faces fed With beautiful…
It Is Dusk
It is dusk And we are ready to go to the bathhouse. I am in the garden and By the pomegranate tree I dress my baby doll with her plastic swollen belly and fat fingers that I like to chew on to make teeth marks in. Already I can hear the mournful sound of prayer…
I want a man like
I want a man like Leonard Cohen to garnish my hair with begonias when he reads me poetry I want skeleton peace after crime-scene sex I want a man like John Lennon to airbrush the evils of capitalism after our cuts and bleeds I want bed peace after my young-girl 3-way and the next morning I want a voluptuous…
I did not know in China all animals were red
Both the thick cotton laundry baskets and the bamboo cages have been made by the workers at ‘The Palace’ : grandmothers and mothers, uncles and boys making school money, dinner money for the future. For now. Everyday. But you know, the spaghetti thin wires and plastic cords come with. And your butcher knives are bored…
My Interview with The Ku Klux Klan – Alabama 2015
*All names have been changed. It’s 5pm and somewhere in the deep reserves of Alabama I’m being driven into the woods by the Ku Klux Klan. The two Loyal White Knights of the Klan clad in all-black as is the customary colour of the KKK security uniform are my guards: My eyes have seen the...
Wicked Game
It was at the opening of their art exhibition that the girl and the boy first set eyes on each other. There were many people around talking about art and the evening’s impending events. It was dark and thundery outside. It was the night. She saw this beautiful boy and in a sudden bold move…
Sex Parties in Iran
I had just arrived back in Tehran, Iran. My Islamic hijab (full head wrap and loose-fitted tent-like cover for the body compulsory for women to wear in public in Iran) was clammy with euphoria of the things I would see: Snow covered mountains, the sea, the breathtakingly beautiful ancient cities of Shiraz and Esfahan, the banquet of…