Bänoo Zan landed in Canada in 2010. In her country of origin, Iran, she was an English language and literature instructor at universities. She has been writing poetry since the age of ten and has published poetry, criticism, and translations in Persian and English. Her poetry has appeared in The Calling, Voices, The Applicant, Magnapoets, protestpoems.org, Mandegar, Zanan, Kabul Press, Verse Afire and PEN International. Her book, The Song of Phoenix: Life and Works of Sylvia Plath, was reprinted in 2010 in Iran. She claims that her politics is her poetry.
War Talks
I am fighting you
with my atoms—too
explosive to fight
the acid-rain tears
too burning to bomb
You are fighting me
with races of color
bleaching the colors out—
at distance too far
to cover on hate
We are fighting us
with nuclear fear
as mushroomed Japan
fighting the fight in
violence of peace
The bullets paint the
wilderness of hands
fighting for drops of
power—dark red as
battles I have been
We are caught in war—
too peaceful to fight—
too violent to dare
surrender to peace—
asking no questions
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