“Fell in love first,
fell in love quickly—like I was pushed.
Fell in love next,
fell in love slowly—like I was strolling.
Falling in love now
and feeling crazy.
Thinking of closing my eyes
and jumping.”Kamand Kojouri
“I’ll forget me.
You forget you.
We can be one
together,
happily.”Kamand Kojouri
“Eyes and ears are two.
Lungs and kidneys, too.
I wonder then
why we’re born with one
heart that skips a beat when hay is here,
and beats quickly when you are near.
One heart that cracks when you are far,
lie to me and leave a scar.
I wonder then
why we’re born with one
heart that’s easily broken.
Was I supposed to find you then?
So your heart would make one
plus one is
two
for me
and two for you.”Kamand Kojouri
“Knowing you,
I became mindless.
Having wasted previous wishes,
I’m riddled with regretsFeeling you,
I became hopeless.
Adrift in chasms,
I surrender to a caress.Loving you,
I became love.
My universe became love.
Planets rotate on love’s axes and
apples fall to be near their beloveds.No longer a rationalist, I assert my existence with love.
I love, therefore
I exist,
therefore I
love.”Kamand Kojouri
“Even when I write about this swan
and that orchid,
I write about you.
Every word
of every line
is for you.
I have drunk you
yet you have consumed me.
Seeping through every cell
from crown to root,
you took over heart,
mind,
and lungs
so that every breath I expel
leaves a trail of you in the air—
the same air that I inhale.
I no longer know myself separate from you.
But how I long to be with the source!”Kamand Kojouri
“What is this love
that makes me see beauty,
and makes every beautiful thing
bring you back to me?
What is this love
that makes me declare ‘I love you’
even though I uttered it
only a moment ago?
What is this love
that keeps growing even when my chest is sore
and it hurts to love you any more?
Tell me:
How am I to find what this love is
when it was the one to find you, me,
this verse, and this universe?”Kamand Kojouri
“I write our names on the page.
What of it, if the paper will be burned?
I write our names in the sand.
What of it, if the shore will be washed by waves?
I write our names on trees that will be cut
and benches that will be painted,
but what of it?
I will keep on writing our names
because in this world of ephemera,
you and I are the only constant.”Kamand Kojouri
“Can we share my eyes
so you can see what I see?
Can we share my ears
so you can hear what I hear?
Can you perch on my shoulders
so you can go where I go?
Always in my heart,
I don’t experience anything separate from you.
This shared wonderment becomes doubled.
This shared love becomes infinite.”Kamand Kojouri
“If you ask all the cells
in my body,
they only answer your name.
Follicles push the hair upwards
so they may brush
against your skin.
Nails grow faster as well.
Lungs breathe rapidly
in hopes of inhaling your scent.
Toes curl to smile and
knees form dimples when you are near.
Brain fireworks.
Stomach fills with flies of butter
and swallows, and
swans swoon.
Cattle, rhinos, and walruses too—
there’s a stampede when you are near.
I love you from the bottom of my liver
to the tip of my lashes.
One wink from you and heart stops
like a sneeze. Bless you.
I cannot even begin to tell you
what happens to soul,
for soul is off
flying with its mate.”Kamand Kojouri
“I haven’t written you a poem in years it seems.
How can it be my fault
when the words to describe you
have yet to be created.
When the alphabet lacks the very letters.
How can it be my fault
when your loveliness only grows
by the time I reach for pen and paper.
Tell me, how am I at fault
when I am only a beginner in poems
and you are exquisite poetry.
To write you in words
is to put a veil upon you.
Why must I write
when I can kiss you instead?”Kamand Kojouri
Kamand Kojouri 