 I am the star
By Soraya Shalforoosh
April 23, 2003
The Iranian
I am the Star I went to Iran
I brought to Iran a
Box of Toblerone chocolate almost as tall as I.
Farouj wanting chocolate wakes me: "Soraya
be in ja."
I whisper in English where is my Dad.
Oh, in a casino. Casino! Like Las Vegas or probably
Monte Carlo.
Toss of chips; flick of red cards
Green table, blue table........soft.
As an adult I am going to wear long scarves, fine
perfumes spin roulette wheels.
She wants chocolate.
I have to open it, only I can,
Who else has an auntie waking them at 3:00 am to eat
fine chocolates? Not anyone!
Oh, I am learning. It is only my second night
here and I am learning:
We drink tea with sugar cubes in our teeth. This is what it
must be to be a Queen!
I can sit on the floor even in the kitchen.
In open windows there are cats, dogs; on floors salamanders,
cockroaches.
Somewhere close my dad has stacks of
money on a table, a cocktail on a silver tray.
11:00 am and after
I awake, dad's rubbing a warm cloth on my cheeks.
I got chocolate here? Oh, and on my pillow.
11:00 am, first time past 7. I know from the way he
laughs about my being up with Farouj, that he won't tell mom ever.
He even tells me he had too much to drink. But
what does that even mean? It means I can eat chocolate.
Flying into Tehran was like flying into a Christmas
tree with all its lights. Here,
I walk on boxes and presents. If they are not for me, it doesn't
matter, they are.
Systematically somehow all the boxes, presents
Were wrapped into black wrap. What else would
one want to see?
Everything that has ever been seen!
I'm telling you and even you not one thing again.
When I begin to tell what is hidden you'll want more.
When you want more, we hide what's given.
Poet
Soraya Shalforoosh has her MFA from The New School..
As an undergraduate, she won the Prentiss Cheney Hoyt Poetry Award
at Clark University. Her poems have appeared in The Brink:
An Anthology of Post Modern American Poetry from 1965 to Present...
Good Foot, etc. Soraya has read her poetry at Barnes & Noble,
the Ear Inn, Bowery Poetry Club, Wordsworth Book Store, The New
School and elsewhere. She's also collaborated and performed
with jazz and funk bands at C-Note, Savoy, and Nightingales.
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I am the star
