The ICORN-relay: Sedigheh Vasmaghi
In April the Swedish city of Uppsala received a new ICORN writer: the Iranian lawyer and poet Sedigheh Vasmaghi. After the election in 2009, she took part of the protest movement. She published poems and articles where she took a strong stand against all fundamentalism. The harassments and threats towards her increased. When an arrest warrant was issued, she had no choice but to leave her country. Here you can read three of her poems.
I have seen a moon sprout
Who has seen a gallows sprouting a green leaf
new life greening on a wooden tinder post?
I swear on the green head of the hanged man
that gallows posts can grow, be transformed into greening
plane trees.
Who has seen in darkest night a moon sprout,
a star, a moon, sprout from a wizened gallows post?
I swear on the green head of the hanged man
I have seen it, I have!
I have seen a moon sprout
A sun, a star put forth shoots
wherever a martyr’s blood is spilled
a tulip shoots forth from the hard stone.
I have seen the monster broken
like crushed glass, broken
fall under the feet of silence
the heartless monster wither and fade.
I have seen violets at midwinter
raise their heads from the snowdrift
and whisper to green-minded friends
soon you’ll sense spring in the dust of the road!
…………………………………………………………………………………………
Just think of all the freedom I have
Silence, exile or prison
just think that I’m free
to make my choice among them!
Think of all the freedom I have!
And the older I get
the greedier I seem to be
when it comes to freedom!
Lots of crossroads ahead
Which road shall I choose
to attain my heart’s desire?
Where are you, lights of my longing?
What are you, lights of my longing?
The black walls of silence
the tall stony cliffs of exile
the iron bars of prison
keep us apart!
But all this distance
I will overcome!
With power higher than walls
propelling me
with conviction firmer than cliffs
and the courage to force
the bars of my prison,
to bend
I will!
I will overcome these obstacles!
Keep silent? How could I keep silent
when the words buried inside me
keep popping out?
For that’s what words do:
wherever they are planted they thrive!
In the innards of the walls of silence
in the heart of the cliffs of exile
in the core of prison bars.
They can even grow green
in the skulls of the prison guards
and in petrified chests of the interrogators!
I will overcome all that distance
to attain my desires.
I will see to it that
all the distance is greened
I know what my desires stand for
I know they are worth
any sacrifice I must make.
…………………………………………………………………………………………
When the stars die down
When the stars die down
sunrise is near!
I feel the fresh smell of morning
the scent of life
like the smell of hot bread
I hear
the footsteps of morning approach
the call of the sparrows
the song of the swallows’ wings.
Has the earth’s orbit changed?
Tonight the stars have died so early.
The devotees of night
are still walking their nocturnal alleys
They don’t know how late it is.
They don’t know that
when the stars fade
sunrise is near, very near!
ICORN
The International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN) is an association of cities around the world dedicated to the value of Freedom of Expression. Writers have consistently been targets of politically motivated threats and persecution, and the network believes it is necessary for the international community to formulate and implement an appropriate response. Each ICORN city focuses on one writer at a time, each writer representing the countless others in hiding, in prison or silenced forever.
