VidaKashizadeh

For original image see
/ Thoth and an ibis called Salam

Once a slave of language
the chain of words
the mother tongue
the love of words
the life of words
the train of rhymes
the mother thought
the father fights
the sister rights
the brother’s –isms and ideologies
the grandfather’s despotism
the grandmother’s sweet body of indifference
- the indifference in her sweet body -
a mountain of flesh of delight
there
her crossed legs for me to sit on
the cats of grace and hunger
the dogs of passion killed in torture

now
the freedom of loneliness
the loneliness of freedom
when there comes a time
when the fine line between memory
and dream is blurred
all witnesses of childhood
gone one by one
when belonging
to a land
does not matter anymore
when the earth
is the same
everywhere
when (where) death is so c lose
and nationality is as artificial
as a robot

now
my body is my country
and I should give a chance
to all of my cells
the mother tongue
the father cells
the sister’s sanity
the brother’s mind
the grandfather’s love of order
the grandmother’s relaxation
the cats of contentment with one position
for a long time
and the dog of
unconditional love
without torture
the dog of acceptance

Once delivered
from the chain of memory
the ever secret presence
of the snake of wisdom
connecting with its spine
the body and mind
My sweet serpent
the kundalini
of connectedness
to the here and now

Vida Kashizadeh
8th October 2001