After Ten Minutes!

Eid

I can’t tolerate the hot weather at all. I hate it! I don’t understand what people say in the hot weather, and I can’t talk. If you want to talk to me, make a date in the winter. I am not to blame.

River Promise

Kabul River

I love you, River!
Let me kiss your arms—
unknown.

The Kitchen

woman working in kitchen

My identity is hiding somewhere in the kitchen / Where destiny told me to be. / I don’t know where it is / If you look for it / Maybe you could find it…

The Grave Is Always Silent

cemetery hillside

In the palace there is a grave / The grave of a kind man / Where I empty my pains / It is my guest house / I rest on the soil / There is a picnic of my sorrows

Picture of a Laptop

laptop

The first time I heard about email was on the BBC program. I sent a letter. I think it took twenty days for the letter to be delivered. I didn’t know what email was. I thought it must be an electronic pocket with a metal board and a plug to switch it on, and then you could write with a pen. I thought maybe the pen was metal too. It seemed crazy that someone could receive mail in one minute from all around the world.

An Afghan Poet

woman in black

I am a writer / An Afghan woman writer / But no one cares for my writings / No one reads them here / It is a crime / For a woman to write.

Damn!

wall freedom

For building a wall in front of my wishes / For you beating me / For forcing me to marry / For you blaming me, for not having a son / For playing with my feelings

The Meaning of Democracy

voting

My dear brother and sister, Democracy is an unlucky bride in our country, because there are no good examples. It is our strange friend because we don’t know what Democracy is.

My Eyes

my-eyes

My eyes, you are a dry desert of sorrows / You tell stories of other wounded eyes / You talk from the heart of an Afghan woman / Who eats pain three times / And drinks tears / You talk from / Hapless valleys of life

The Evening Walk, The Wild Looks

Bagh e Bala postcard, 1965

As we walked, I felt as if the trees were talking to me. I felt them say: “We feel you, Roya, we feel you!” There were some tired flowers too. The garden was like a desert without water or gardener. The weather was not so good; I felt it was nervous like me, with the wind throwing dust in our faces and eyes.