Mar 2019
Hello. Do you know who I am?
No, I tell her. How could I?
Hello. Do you know who I am?
Yes, she lies. How could I not?
Would I recognize her on the streets?
Would intuition tell me who she was,
even though I could not understand her tongue?
Can you know someone you’ve never met?
Can you love someone you do not know?
I IMAGINE MY MOTHER READING THIS:
How can she write that?
She doesn’t know.
She would not be wrong.
I do not know the whole story.
I wasn’t there, so how could I?
Is it fair of me to write of someone I do not know?
How can she write that?
She doesn’t know.
I don’t think I can stop until I do.
No, I tell her. How could I?
Hello. Do you know who I am?
Yes, she lies. How could I not?
Would I recognize her on the streets?
Would intuition tell me who she was,
even though I could not understand her tongue?
Can you know someone you’ve never met?
Can you love someone you do not know?
I IMAGINE MY MOTHER READING THIS:
How can she write that?
She doesn’t know.
She would not be wrong.
I do not know the whole story.
I wasn’t there, so how could I?
Is it fair of me to write of someone I do not know?
How can she write that?
She doesn’t know.
I don’t think I can stop until I do.
Response to selected portions of “Personal Effects” by Solmaz Sharif.
“I wasn’t there
so I can’t know, can I?”
“‘How can she write that?
She doesn’t know’”
“Hello. Do you know who I am?
Yes, I tell you, I half-life,
Yes. . . .
How could I not?”
“I wasn’t there
so I can’t know, can I?”
“‘How can she write that?
She doesn’t know’”
“Hello. Do you know who I am?
Yes, I tell you, I half-life,
Yes. . . .
How could I not?”
