donya rostami

Rise up Qaraçuxa I knew a man who filled his cavities with tar (1985) / I knew a man who played grown up games with children (1985-87) / I knew a woman who lifted her face with scotch tape (1989) /I knew a woman who washed her mouth with soap (1990) / I knew a child for only eighty-six days (1993) /I know a woman who closes her eyes in the washroom horrified to see the contrast of her wet hair with the tiles (1997) And today I am horrified to see my hanging wet hair in contrast with the white wash- room tiles / And hope enhances the contrast... Then The ants rebel against the white contrast of my eyes / Pupils rise up / The woman howled in a different tongue / And I lived in a common language / The ants rebelled against the contrast of the white washroom tiles and my black hair / Maternal instinct fails to rise up to my sufferings / The fears smash the eggs / Ants drown in the infec- tion of my breasts / The uprising is silenced / The pupils slowly abase / Time does not pass / It repeats evermore Past, present and future They mix And I am confused My mother has been giving birth to me for the past thirty-five years / My father turns into a tomato plant / Suffering never cause my death / It drags me to childbearing At the dimax of suffering and birth /I murmur in my maternal language... Wake up Qaraçuxa* Wake up Qaraçuxa I have written all the names on stone / From the east to the west / There is no hope in our hearts / It weighs on our eyelids / Soon it will drop down with our first tear And in the common language I live the tears... Wake up Qaraçuxa Donya Rostami (2018)