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Life on the fence
Poem

By Siamak Kiarostami
October 10, 2001
The Iranian

I've lived my life

on the fence

off the fence

"my worlds are in conflict with each other"

my balancing act

my hyphenated bullshit --

I've lived the hamburger-kabob dichotomy

of being Iranian in America.

We are found again

in a period of conflict

and fast food patriotism.

Your are with us or against us

but I'm tired of the John Wayne and Mullah

charlatans endlessly rehashing this --

a never ending divorce,

insults, denunciations, accusations

anything but communication.

and now either you are with them or against them

it doesn't feel like we are included in the "us"

caught in the middle of this bullshit

illegitimate turbans and ten gallon hats

are ready for war --

the clash of ignorance is coming

we are not involved,

are we?

Are we to be silent

wrap a US flag around our emotions

and bite our lip?

it has been 22 years

a legacy of silently assimilating or resisting

rediscovering and discarding identities

in fashionable multicultural conflict

living on and off the fence

in a chameleon fashion.

but after September 11th,

It now seems to be a crime to remember our history

or to point out America's.

Comment for The Iranian letters section Comment for the writer Siamak Kiarostami