
Dokhtar-e Amrika-i
By Farnoosh Seifoddini
December 17, 2002
The Iranian
1
At the dinner table
We talk politics
I say we shouldn't go to war
We are hated around the world.
My mother snickers:
Akh! akh! Fekr mikoneh Amrika-ist!
2
In middle school
with brown skin and toothpick curves
their eyes watch me
Camel Jockey!
Vanessa, with her soft milky skin
and gold tinted hair
reassures me:
you'll bloom in college
Everyone will be after you.
3
At some bar
he walks towards me
two drinks in hand
his brow arches
over pale blue eyes
he asks my name
then asks where I'm from
I say: the Axis of Evil.
4
In my dreams
things aren't punctuated properly
I wear Amrika on my head
a turban of red, white and blue
stars and stripes stream behind me
as I ride through the amber waves of grain
glide over the fruited plains:
on my camel.
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