Poems and Translations
Poetry of Sholeh Wolpé <Back To Poems Home Page
Azza – The ceremony of grief
Women in black rock
their bodies, beat their chests,
girl-children serve in glass
tumblers steaming auburn tea,
baklava on plastic trays.
Here, tears flow like streams,
wet the ornate Persian rugs
and in the courtyard
where she poured kerosene on her head, struck a match,
silver fish roam the small pond, oblivious.
On the other side of the yard, men sit
with hookah pipes, crack salted pistachios.
The butcher who was to take the girl as bride
sits on an embroidered cushion, strokes his twisting gray mustache.
-- Sholeh Wolpé
Christina Sergeyevna Award (Honorable Mention, 2005)
