Kamand Kojouri

and I kept writing of love 
during the war 
I wrote you poems 
so the world seemed less obscene 
so I’d suspend time 
and cease the disappearing 
during the war 
I wrote you poems 
so you felt held 
in your unravelling 
so the blasts wouldn’t reach 
who we were becoming 
during the war 
I wrote you poems 
so they wouldn’t win 
so the fragrance of my people 
lingered in the streets 
like a thousand burst tangerines

Kamand Kojouri