September 13, 2017

Three Poems by Soodabeh Saeidnia: "Rebellious Wish," "If You See Something...," and "Conspiracy"

Soodabeh Saeidnia lives in NYC but originally is from Persia. She has a PhD in Pharmacognosy and has worked as a researcher, assistant and associate professor in the Kyoto University (Japan), TUMS (Iran), the University of Saskatchewan (Canada). She is interested in English literature and poetry, and has published a collection of her poems, "Words for Myself," in Farsi. Her English poems have been published in various American and Canadian anthologies and literary magazines including Pharmacognosy Magazine, Great Weather for Media, Squawk Back, Indiana Voice Journal, Sick Lit Magazine, Tuck Magazine, Duane's PoeTree, and others. Her first collection of contemporary poems, “Street of the Ginkgo Trees," and  several anthologies where she is  both the editor and contributor, are available on Amazon.  Visit her blog at  https://soodabehpoems.wordpress.com.








Rebellious Wish

Of those hundred thousands of wishes
that you've hidden somewhere in Andromeda
beneath a pile of ethanoic expectations
above the climax of unbridled demands
in between the surreal and real creatures
and highly protected by Leo and Canis major,
may you please send me a small one
a simple, a peaceful, an easy dream
drifting through a shooting star?

May I receive it on Mount Sinai
or the Dead Sea or even Antarctica?

May you rely on my promise
to douse it with vinegar or soak it in wine
and protect it from invasion of extreme desire?

You may, but sorry!
I will not let that small dream expire in vain
I will not hide it for a hundred thousands of years
below the Egyptian pyramids
or above Mount Everest
I may not let my people live bereft of dreams
or in dream of dreams that you simply
don't let them come true!



If You See Something …

If you see something, say something like:
Hey … hello … I'm seeing you!
I see you every day.
I’m used to seeing you.

I see you and ignore …
I see you and deny …
I see you and say something …
A quietism dialect!

If you see something, say something like:
Why haven't I seen you so far?
Seems I haven't looked down for years!
Not to the left, nor to the right
I’m used to looking up,
not to lose my composure, my temper

I, with freezing sangfroid, accepted you
as a lowest member of the society
just like I accepted rats to commute only underground,
or raccoons to thrive only on our leftovers,
or squirrels to stay with us only out of courtyard.
I accepted you to sit on the hard concrete curb,
to spread on the wooden couch of the platform,
to be sheltered inside an ATM chamber
just like I accepted broccoli as a side dish,
although we both knew its trashy destiny.

Next time, If you see something, say nothing.




Conspiracy

Past winters met each other,
recycling their memories.
How often they bothered me,
pricking my face with flakes,
whipping my legs with chill
blurring my car's windshield.
I can't hear their whispers!
Seemingly they came up with
a new plan for this January!



©Soodabeh Saeidnia


Total Pageviews