Unsafe Surroundings

By Darius Atefat-Peckham

Isfahan’s Friday Prayer Imam, Yousef Tabatabei-Nejad ... once again urged Iran’s security and intelligence agents to make the “surroundings unsafe”
for citizens with a “loose hijab.”
—Radio Farda

Sing a man’s poem again. Your beard is nothing
But a bad hijab failing to hide your face.

           Would a hijab hide a smoldering face?
           Your Bibi dyes a bad hijab, her fingers in her hair.

Says, not too bad, the hijab. Fingers back her dying hair.
You are her only son, so you are like the moon.

           You are only her grandson, so she is the moon—
           The “spectacle” her father punished for singing.

Remember Father, in his spectacles. Remember her singing.
She was a songbird, combing through hair, building her nest.

           You are a songbird, stealing hair to build your nest.
           Your Bibi won’t sing anymore. You’ll never hear her

Sing over your apology. You’ll never hear her
Sing a man’s poem again. Your beard is nothing.

Source: Poetry (February 2023)