Time Zones
By S.G. Moradi
Daylight breaks on the ceiling above my bed
kaleidoscopic, the lights meander across
and down the walls
It is midnight where I was born
and the Alborz mountains judge me
for leaving them behind
It is midnight and my father smokes
his bedtime cigarette
and ages in my absence
It is midnight and my grandmother sleeps
in the sleep set I bought her from Marshalls
taking care to find the softest one
to dull the sharp edges of my guilt
that she would no longer recognize the gifter
It is midnight and my mother sends
across the dark fabric of night
clips she thinks I will like from her feed
I watch them dutifully on my morning commute
to replace the talks we used to have
as the samovar sang in the background.
S.G. Moradi is an Iranian-Canadian poet, short story writer, and literary scholar. She completed her Ph.D. in English Literature at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Her previous work includes translations of the compiled poems of Omar Khayyam from Farsi to English, published by Okta Publications in Iran.