Tim Kahl
Paradise
After the war the martyrs’ crimson fountains
are turned off at Bahesht-e Zahra.
There is a new shade of blue in the sky.
The tulips and candles shared with the dead
are put aside and the acres of graves
halt their advance between the rows of trees.
The faces etched on the stone markers
make a dramatic backdrop for a photo of
little brother who has carried
the bouquet this time.
He places it in the glass enclosure
as his mother instructs: if we love a flower,
it may love us back. He has heard this before
during the story of the woman
who scooped up some bloody soil from the front
and put it in the garden. The picnic is about to begin.
His father looks on approvingly at this public
display of memory in the heart of the city.
Then his gaze slants towards the guts of the clouds.
The written prayer of love hidden in his pocket
is always with him wherever he goes.
Paradise
After the war the martyrs’ crimson fountains
are turned off at Bahesht-e Zahra.
There is a new shade of blue in the sky.
The tulips and candles shared with the dead
are put aside and the acres of graves
halt their advance between the rows of trees.
The faces etched on the stone markers
make a dramatic backdrop for a photo of
little brother who has carried
the bouquet this time.
He places it in the glass enclosure
as his mother instructs: if we love a flower,
it may love us back. He has heard this before
during the story of the woman
who scooped up some bloody soil from the front
and put it in the garden. The picnic is about to begin.
His father looks on approvingly at this public
display of memory in the heart of the city.
Then his gaze slants towards the guts of the clouds.
The written prayer of love hidden in his pocket
is always with him wherever he goes.
Tim Kahl [http://www.timkahl.com] is the author of Possessing Yourself (CW Books, 2009), The Century of Travel (CW Books, 2012) The String of Islands (Dink, 2015) and Omnishambles (Bald Trickster, 2019). His work has been published in Prairie Schooner, Drunken Boat, Mad Hatters' Review, Indiana Review, Metazen, Ninth Letter, Sein und Werden, Notre Dame Review, The Really System, Konundrum Engine Literary Magazine, The Journal, The Volta, Parthenon West Review, Caliban and many other journals in the U.S. He is also editor of Clade Song [http://www.cladesong.com]. He is the vice president and events coordinator of The Sacramento Poetry Center. He also has a public installation in Sacramento {In Scarcity We Bare The Teeth}. He plays flutes, guitars, ukuleles, charangos and cavaquinhos. He currently teaches at California State University, Sacramento, where he sings lieder while walking on campus between classes.