Poem for the women of Iran

They did not know we were building an army behind these veils
We cast eyes down yesterday, so we could lift fists today
The dawning of revolution that’s been germinating for decades
Marinating in mind wombs

Sisters in solidarity – hungry for sun on face
Fresh rain on arms re-creating the order of things
From the chaos of unholiness

They bent our ballots
But will not break out backs

They forget we their sisters, daughters, wives, mothers are sacred power
The essence of stories that shatter centuries of silence

But our righteous brothers remember – they remember our names and speak them,
Text them in code, record them on secret rooftops

While the armies of oppression arrest our professors, strangle us on streets, stretch to lock us in cells
For they fear us
And they should.

Our eyes have seen too much, hearts have had to bear too much
We are scratching our survival, pitching our tents
Not merely for ourselves, but for sons and daughters unborn

We write poems in our mother’s tongue but write signs in English
This message must/needs/will be heard on global super highways

We are hiding on campuses, nursing children, prostrate is prayer
Crying out into midnight
And the Radical Light that is Truth can not deny us
Praying women, protesting women can not be denied

Everywhere we look they want us to see red
Blood in pools, dripping, soaking, suggesting we surrender
But we see green
We choose to see green
Emerald green growing
Forest green springing
Pressing toward freedom

Last week we poured into the street
With brutality they planted hot lava on the road

So now we take to the sky
Twittering, soaring, rising beyond their grasp

They do not realize they can not take lives
Only bodies
Our breath remains

We are already pregnant with tomorrow
And these babies are coming forth today

We hear out sisters and brothers across this international matrix
Calling for us to push

We women warriors of Iran
Wonder if some have mistaken our tears for weakness
That would be a mistake
Do no underestimate this war cry
This is a cry of outrage, emerging from our mourning song
& this sound will echo through the mountains
Of our ancestors
Traveling through space manifesting into glorious peace

We will not be forgotten
& greater still our sacrifice is not in vain

Waging peace,
Women are rainbows climbing across gray skies

Inch by inch we take the sky

Our mothers taught us well
doves must fly