I maybe cliche, I maybe melodramatic,
attending to my intense emotions,
luminous & free, painful & curse like,
liberty I wanted, but its freedom
from myself to what I need.

The thing about human rights is
that they are essential,
they are intangible.
They cannot be bought,
they must be fought for.
Most importantly,
they cannot be weighed,
they cannot be passed back and forth,
and they cannot be ranked.
No one, technically,
owns a monopoly on human rights.
You cannot take one of mine away
because you decided to expand
evolve and magnify,
your own.

So while I would never wish to
hurt anyone’s feelings,
a person should not be censored
from having opinions and thoughts.
I probably won’t share them with you anyway.
Cause while you have the right to be offended by something,
someone else has just as much of a right to offend you.

We can hold friendly debates
and discussions,
but personally I’d rather not ruin
interactions with clashing ideals.
It won’t accomplish anything.
Everyone should be able to do what they wish- as long as it doesn’t hurt someone.
Physically and mentally, that is,
because a human right cannot be
made void because of feelings.
You see, everyone has feelings,
ideals, morals, standards, expectations...
and everyone is different.
My life will not be completely altered and restricted,
for you to have more privilege than anyone else.
What and how you say something
is just usually based on levels of
intelligence, learned behaviour,
manners and common sense.
Some people, unfortunately,
just can’t be helped in that aspect
and will give you their opinion
blatantly oblivious to your perspective, no matter what.
But both parties are guilty of that.

If you don’t like what you’re seeing
hint: don’t watch, don’t read.
If you don’t like what you’re hearing
hint: don’t listen, or ignore it.
Spend less time getting offended
and placing your personal feelings
on a pedestal,
and more time living your life.
Believe me, we’ll all be happier that way.

Scratch the itch from the poison of modernity
in the tapestry of culture as it contrasts and conflicts
in gentrified decay; where UV is cast into stone
as it crumbles to the sound of archaic rhythm.

Only some of the clock hands refuse to turn
to allow different splinters of time to converge.
as others idle by propelled by contemporary euphoria;
grinding on ages already passed.

Mechanisms of time fragment in the sound of simplicity,
relics are no longer held in memory
but carved in hieroglyphs,
worn into cobblestones of interchangeable streets
all leading to a history which repeats.

I don't think people realize how fragile it all is
how it just falls apart when you're looking out of the window at something else
at first you don't realize because it happens bit by bit
you'll get used to it

the culture war looms
it pulls out your skirt on fridays
take me out please
take me where the boys are
you know you want to
it tugs at your sleeves saying
oh you didn't hear what they said about you?
flag wars they sing

truth is a preference
it's true if it feels right
if it doesn't well
it's fake news of course

oh you didn't know non-player character
will you play to win?
because feelings don't care about your facts

you see I was born in 83
in the newly formed islamic republic of iran
three years into the trench warfare that changed the psyche of a nation forever
high on the islamic revolution
full of fury
blood and soil
blood and soil
the hors d'oeuvres of the war
we fled in 88 three months before the war ended
nothing gained nothing fulfilled

I see the absolute worst in people
I watch them and learn much from what they get outraged by and what they don't
it all starts small rooted in a search for meaning a sense of purpose
once this is defined just watch them turn on each other
the other essentially

war needs a dragon
war needs young men to believe
the culture war has always been there
like a monster’s nails casting an ominous shadow
behind the bedroom door tapping away at your mother's vinyl flooring

when people get safe
with fear at bay the tapping dims
but when an immigrant stabs an infidel
or a black man is apparently murdered on video
the tapping gets louder
what is the dream of the foreigner hoping to penetrate the walls of the golden city
to weaken it?
from the russian bot to the isis video slicing brody's neck right before your eyes
it gets at you doesn't it?
doesn't he look like you?
your white knuckles are shaking
yes yes the monster says
I will draw you in

because I'm just a monster living in the hallway
and I'm nothing without you
is what he'll never ever tell you

but it's true
he aims to exaggerate the divisions within your family
to exploit it
to challenge your identity
to play with your emotions
as you've done to them
so you know this game very well
you just don't know the side of the table that will
as in the iran-iraq war both the us and the uk sold arms to both sides
the great game

War is profitable and the opportunity to cash in on it is tempting
people don't have ideas
ideas have people
how fragile at all is

this very society that I cherish that I sought refuge in
my family
the vast base
the stable economy
common law
democracy
if life started in the east
then the reason to be of the west is to carry on the torch
to learn from past mistakes and to be a light unto the world
until our very toes are inching at the pacific with no further to go
will I find myself staring at the window pondering what happened
like so many countless men throughout history have?

how fragile at all this
we won't know until it's taken from us
not by the formless foreigner but by our own very hand that opens the bedroom door
to experience our darkest insides that grows and grows endlessly
until we have nothing else
the monster in the bed now
in all that cold
and all that dark

The princess shaves her armpits
Everyday because if she doesn’t
The people will whisper
About the dark stains under her arms
Whenever she fixes her crown

You don’t know the language, the culture or anything. You’re feeling like a lost puppy walking around this new place. I know that, I’ve been there. I am there. But at the end of the day, you’re just the new kid for a while. Soon you will know what you’re doing. Give it time.