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Walking the Perimeter of Balad Air Base, Iraq
Farzana Marie

For A.V.

I saw her pause in the wheat field,
wiping sweat from between her eyes
with the end of a cotton scarf,
both of us calculating the distance
between our paths, passing
in the topography of this moment
as close to each other as they ever would.

As my fatigues and her fatigue
exchanged glances,
I wished she could catch
on the barely-breeze the whisper
from my heart’s outstretched hand:
I want to know you.

—
Farzana Marie lives in Tucson, Arizona, and has lived in Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Chile, and California. She is a poet with Ph.D. from the University of Arizona (focus: Persian Literature, with a minor in Creative Writing). Farzana’s captivating poetry and translations have appeared in print and online journals (Flycatcher, Atticus Review, Zocalo, Blue Streak, etc.). Farzana honorably served in the U.S. Air Force, including back-to-back deployments in Afghanistan where she also served as a civilian volunteer at a Kabul orphanage in 2003-2004. She has written a collection of Persian Dari poetry in translation (Load Poems Like Guns), a poetry chapbook (Letters to War and Lethe), and a nonfiction book (Hearts for Sale!: A Buyer’s Guide to Winning in Afghanistan).

In 2015, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Farzana had a massive stroke. Today she is facing a new adversary: aphasia—a loss of language skills (not intellect). Now she is working every day to recover her ability to speak, read, and write.

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Ursa Major by J. Stephen Rhodes

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