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by Nasrin Parvaz
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Shot, handcuffed to the flag rod.
He asked for water
the guards held a cup of water
out of reach and said, ‘Take it.’
His mother came at dawn
with a bowl of water.
She was shot.
His sister came
with a bowl of water.
She was shot.
His cousin came
with a bowl of water.
She was shot.
His neighbour came
with a bowl of water.
She was shot.
His lover came at dusk
together with women.
Each holding a bowl of water.
Frightened
the guards ran away.
From the anthology “Ourselves in Rivers and Oceans” by Wee Sparrow poetry press (2024). This poem was inspired by the killing of Khodanor Lajehie by the same method by the Islamic Regime of Iran in 2022.
Nasrin Parvaz was born in Tehran. In post-revolutionary Iran she became a women’s and civil rights activist. She was arrested, tortured and sentenced to death in 1982. Her sentence was commuted to 10 years’ imprisonment and she was released in 1990. She claimed asylum in the UK in 1993 and lives in London.
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