A poem by Mohammad Zaki Zaki

Dear son
You are eternally lost
You are definitely gone
You are glumly missed
You are precipitously disappeared

Dear daughter
Your father is calling your name
Your mother is looking for you
Your sister is searching your phone number
Your baby brother is expecting to play games with you
But you never return
You will never be seen
Where are you to have dinner?
Where are you to do your homework?
Where are you to study at studying room?
Where are you to hear my voice?
Where are you to feed the kids? …

A poem by Nematullah Ahangosh

Skinny like me
he walked like Bob Marley
right up to me –
his tuneful accent of India
mine of Afghanistan –
to say my wallet was hanging from my back pocket

I was agitated
He reminded me of someone — who?
with his worn jeans and T-shirt
short hair
and tattoo of an electrocardiogram on his neck

Thanks I said
Introductions exchanged as
our friendship began
Conversations around campus
how like-minded we were

He was gifted at description
Sound waves flowing from his mouth
while he talked

From the Himalayas to the Amazon rainforest
Davis connected saints and shamans
I linked Balkh to Tabriz
the dervishes with…

A poem by Sharifa Ahmadi

Warm and sweet greetings from your mom
Sweetheart I do not know when you are coming to this world
I want to say I love you so much
My little fairy my love is endless for you
So please listen to some advice from me

Before deciding to come into this world
Please think wisely
Here is not a good place for people such as you
Others make the earth a fireplace
And feed it with voiceless people

I live in this world now
It gives much pain and torture
I think this discomfort is enough for me
I do not want the same for you, my innocent…

A poem by Sharifa Ahmadi

There is no news of sunshine
No song of birds, no whoosh of winds
No flowing of waterfalls
No smile on lips of beloveds

Here are the tears of the dark sky
The anger of storms
The silence of Afghan politicians
Here is the jungle of people who lost their loved ones

Here is the home for thieves
Who stop you anywhere anytime
Take all your properties and then shoot you
Running away as if no one could see them

Here is the place where people are confused about
The role of our government
Is it on the side of thieves or against them?
Does the government want us to live in hell
While its leaders enjoy their own robbery and powers! …

A poem by Sharifa Ahmadi

God has given a secret power to women
Which begins in childhood
Baby girl is cuter than baby boy
Baby girl learns talking, walking faster than baby boy
Girl grows faster than boy

A woman can beat a man if she wants
There’s a saying about mothers
They move a cradle with one hand
Shake the world with the other
No man can to do this

If a woman dreams her future
No one can stop her
A woman can make her small home a heaven
Or a hell to others

Better to respect women anywhere
So you’ll be respected…

A poem by Sharifa Ahmadi

Some women only have half freedom living in their parents’ house
Obstacles of society take the other half
Freedom is not about food or clothes

In most Afghan families
Women get married
Lose the other half of freedom

There’s no difference between wife and servant
Whatever order given to a wife
Like a robot she must obey

No one cares whether she is human or not
No one cares whether she also loves
Living with freedom

Everyone forgets about her needs
Her life is like living
In an open cage

Put a bird in a cage
With its favorite food and water
But it is not…

A poem by Sharifa Ahmadi

I didn’t exist at all
Not on earth nor in any other world
You thought of creating me
That’s why first you created a fairy to take care of me
Her name is mother
Then you brought the feeling of motherhood, sympathy, kindness, loyalty
Creating and nourishing me in her womb
Through this beautiful fairy you took care of me for nine months

Then you decided to send me in this world
I came to this world with tears in my eyes
I don’t know if these were tears of happiness or sadness
Perhaps tears of fear about this…

A poem by Nematullah Ahangosh

I have a friend named Hakim
It means healer
He is a mysterious man
He knows what is right
He has many stories to tell
His own story began with light

Light was his guide.
He saw light his very first moment.
In Singapore all he could see were lights.
He knew nothing better than lights.
His story twisted when he saw light in the eyes of Afghans,
Two very different places but the same light.

Most of his words have feathers, that
Fly from his mouth and land in hearts,
But not all of his words touch hearts
He talks nonviolence
He says we humans need one another
He says he could end all wars and violence
But people are used to war
They can’t imagine a world without it
They call him crazy
Maybe we should all become a little crazy to understand
He talks beyond reality, uses his imagination,
Says he would build an equal world,
Says he would build a green, happy…