Ameh[1] Navabeh
was this plain woman—
poor, old, ugly
worked on farms
in homes
in her home
worked all her life
owned nothing but work
She was a feud
She was a flood
mourned death first—
joined him later
Her eyes
the crazy wisdom
of love
She was like dad
but I don’t know
what she was like
It’s too late now—
It’s about time—
Ameh Navabeh
was this woman
Her face
the skin of trees
Her hair
autumn henna
Her dress
rumpled
wrinkles
No friends visited her
but enemies
The walls sat with her
The river twisted out of her way
The rice field reaped her labour
Ameh Navabeh
was this plain woman—
poor, old, lovely
Worries died
in her arms
She envied no one
and left the world
wrapped
in ritual
[1] Aunt
Bänoo Zan is a poet, translator, teacher, editor and poetry curator, with more than 120 published poems and poetry-related pieces as well as three books. Song of Phoenix: Life and Works of Sylvia Plath, was reprinted in Iran in 2010. Songs of Exile, her first poetry collection, was released in 2016 in Canada by Guernica Editions. It has been shortlisted for Gerald Lampert Memorial Award by the League of Canadian Poets in 2017. Letters to My Father, her second poetry book, was published in 2017 by Piquant Press in Canada. She is the founder of Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night), Toronto’s most diverse poetry reading and open mic series (inception: 2012). It is a brave space that bridges the gap between communities of poets from different ethnicities, nationalities, religions (or lack thereof), ages, genders, sexual orientations, disabilities, poetic styles, voices and visions.
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Twitter: @BanooZan & @ShabeSherTO