he can be your tight chastity belt
and loose pimp
he can be your part-time confidant
and full-time traitor
he can be your cool modernist
and jealous spy
he can be your forgiving lover
and vengeful father
he can be your earthly Don Juan
and heavenly Imam
he can be your temporary God
and permanent Satan
he can be your curing homeland
and cancerous exile
he can be what you want him to be:
as virile as his mustache
as commanding as his frown
as wrathful as his weapon
as addictive as his opium,
oh, yes!
he can be it all,
he can have daughters who will obey,
he can have wives who will bow,
he can have lovers who will concede,
he can have maids who will serve,
he can have mothers who soothe,
oh, yes!
he can have it all,
Vote for superman!
before he runs to a corner and sobs
with a crushed heart of a little boy
who has lost his broken toys
to the hidden hand of an eternal pain.
Leila Farjami is a published poet, translator, Family and Child Psychotherapist, and Art Therapist in Southern California. Her latest book is “Eteraafnaameye Dokhtaraane Bad” (Baran Publishers, 2006). Visit her web log at LeilafFarjami.blogspot.com
