For those of you who missed my interview and performance on Wednesday, here is the Tanti Table: Code Switching x Synergizing podcast. If you are bummed that you missed the interview/performance, check this out!
Writer, educator, and newly published poet, Allia Sadeghipour joins us this week at the Tanti Table, where we bring together the Thinkers Anecdotes News Taboos & Intersectionality of Berlin & beyond, sip some tea and question the powers that be!
Allia shares how her childhood in Iran and the U.S. shaped her writing style, her commitment to code-switching, and the importance of being seen in our communities. Her new book of poetry, The Ghosts of Berlin traces the haunting and alluring forms of our brutal yet beautiful Berlin. She’s been featured in the magazine What’s Afghan Punk Rock Anyway?, created by our co-host Armeghan Taheri, so we talk to them about Issue 2- the “love” issue, about the different forms of love, and about duh- about punk rock!
Bear Radio: https://www.bearradio.org/tantitable
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5LXeejZvfnB3IZYJWQHgyU
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tanti-table/id1454501328?mt=2
I never thought I’d live this long
As a queer,
AIDS or God’s wrath.
As a women,
domestic violence,
if not, domestic servitude
As an Iranian-American,
target for a hate crime
As a ‘passing’ Iranian-American,
a 9-5 life and a Mercedes would have done it
Not to mention —
Let’s not mention it.
I just
Didn’t think I would live this long.
I am reminded of choosing to matter
Looking at my reflection
I see you
scar on your forehead
almond eyes
three little chin hairs
I see you
But does my body?
Does my body know me?
I am forced to trust it
It is the only one I have
But does it know?
Does it?
Does it truly?
Does the body know,
When something is deemed useless?
Does it know,
about toxicity
and the purging of memories?
Does it know,
When I am frightened and quickens its pace?
Does it know,
When to shut up and turn about face?
Does it know,
That love is infinite
but endorphins temporary?
Does it know,
That I should be able to take mushrooms
(at least once!)
And not purge it from my system.
Does it know,
When ‘it’ is lonely?
Does it? Do I?
Do I? Do I know?
What do I know?
What do I know about my body?
This body on temporary loan
This body of autonomous sub-systems
This body that moves
through space
To experience space
with this body.
Does it know,
that it is mine?
But is it really?
It truly belongs to my mother
She made it for me
Her prototype
And I’m going to have to give this body back
at some point.
I just
never thought I’d live this long.
GOT PUBLISHED!!! I am so honored to be a part of this amazing publication and have not stopped crying in appreciation for someone seeing, not only my work, but me. Thank you so much @Armeghan Ta. Thank you for giving me a platform where I can be myself and to be a part of this amazing community.
84 pages of beautiful art and stories connecting love, intimacy and desire for freedom and liberation by over 40 contributors.
Available for Purchase Here: https://afghanpunkrock.bigcartel.com/
PDF Version€5.00
Physical Version€14.00
#poem #poetry #poetsofinstagram #poetrycommunity #writing #writer #writers #writersofinstagram #published #publishedpoet #whatsafghanpunkrockanyway #punkrock #afghanpunk #punk #punkmusic #iran #persian #persianpride #collective #badass #punkkidforever #smilebitch #lovers #timetouched #timetouchedlover #bravery #isthiswhatbraveryfeelslike #solidarity #solidarityasutility #postpunk #temecula #tmec #postpunktmec #berkely #berkleyburning
aber
vallee man nimettonam sagen
und and
everything is different
ein anderen Anders
kenn ich nicht
I know not
wo habe ich …
xhoja esh rafti
boodeh bala ja payeen?
hamshesh zusammen kardeem
Exoticism masquerades itself in a compliment
And I am just another colonial conquest
My vagina is their Manifest Destiny
Assimilation is the castration of culture
Going home is not a possibility
You diasporic dysfunction
Sexually repressed and socially excluded
Am I just another notch on the
Belt of fetishized categories
(Published in “Seven Countries Poetry Anthology” by Arroyo Seco Press 2017. Originally published on 06/17/2016)
(Published in “Seven Countries Poetry Anthology” ” via Arroyo Seco Press 2017)
(Originally published on 06/03/2016. Image transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by BanyanTree using CommonsHelper.; source: http://abadan.net, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6081274)
(Published in “Hell Bitches #3” via Radish 2017 & “Seven Countries Poetry Anthology” via Arroyo Seco Press 2017)
Originally published on 06/03/2016
