Summer Return
When my lights are off
and curtains drawn
you come back:
a deer grazing
on the thinning lawn
by the entrance.
I keep watching you
till you see my
hungry eyes
through the crack of the blinds.
Startled, you run away,
and I hide
in my dark room,
waiting
for winter to pass
waiting for the day
when out from
the soil of forgetfulness
the first blade
of grass grows back.
I let this also pass,
looking forward
to summer
so scorching hot
that your memory
of me starts thinning
thus you return,
thinking she’s gone
and won’t be
seeking me again.
Eternal Emigration
Leafless November
trees
shudder in rain.
Look how soon
autumn arrived
as we lay down
our roots!
Our roots are
extended
the soil of this
land thin
winter is coming.
Are we going to
uproot
leave again with
this freezing wind
that scatters the
sailboats?
Rotten
Regret is the
apple
of chance
I didn’t pick
when ripe.
That apple
has now blackened
in my chest.
Eve’s apple
at whose heart
remorse gnaws
a fat worm.
Swing
On the warmth of
my waist
lands a hand
like a butterfly
flutters its
wings
propels me upward
to the apex of my
desires.
Eagle & Peacock
Every night he takes off
with me in his claws.
We rise through clouds
making them part
while heading to the summit
where I open my eyes
and wait
underneath the wide arc
of his wings
wait until his last breath
when he suddenly dives down
an arrow cutting through clouds
but before hitting the earth
I release myself
to deftly land
while opening my feathers
like rays
and become a rising sun
his eagle eyes cast skyward
fail to see.
NILOFAR SHIDMHER is a bilingual writer, poet, arts-informed research scholar, and educator. She is the author of two collections of short fiction and five books of poetry in English and Persian. Shidmehr has served three times as a Writer-in-Residence in Canada. She teaches in the Liberal Arts Program at Simon Fraser University.
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