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Tango in Evin

Secrets

Tango in Evin

Azadeh Davachi

This music has a good beginning

Bach's symphony or Beethoven

Tango or Salsa

It doesn't matter

What matters are the oscillating minutes

Which pass through music

In voiceless cells, you must

Start with unpleasant moves

Even if you’re unicellular, without a head

Weary of lengthy days

Or a brain with no warden

That smells like slogans

It’s a good beginning

If your mouth didn't have a roof

And your jaw

Didn’t tire from grinding with the music

Guantanamo or Evin
*
They’re only words

That pass through
The incomplete understanding of geraniums

You must dance

Until the final act

When someone says Cut
But you won’t finish

With the last symphony

With pale bricks

You’ll dance the tango



*Evin is a notorious political prison in Tehran.

Biography

Author Photo of Azadeh Davachi

Azadeh Davachi is a poet, feminist critic, and writer.