Shakiba Hashemi

Borderline

She was a legend in our town:

the one who dared to cross

to the other side.

The war had taken

everything from her except

her dream for a better life.

She walked through

the unrelenting desert alone

until she saw the barbed-wire wall

piercing the clouds,

against a cold slate blue.

Blood ricocheted around her.

Her chest burned

like firefly kisses in June.

She was there, at last.

She had come so far,

and yet, was not close enough

to cross the line that separated

land from land,

silence from sirens

and air, from ashes and dust.

She measured the wingspan

of her wound.

Her dream had passed

long before the bullet

left the chamber.

Shakiba Hashemi is an Iranian-American poet, painter and teacher living in Southern California. She is a bilingual poet and writes in English and Farsi. She holds a BFA in Drawing and Painting from Laguna College of Art and Design. She has been nominated for Best of the Net Award. Her chapbook Murmur will be published in 2023 by WordTech Communications. Her work is forthcoming or has appeared in The New York Quarterly, Atlanta Review, Tipton Poetry Journal, Ibbetson Street Magazine, The Indianapolis Review, I-70 Review, Cream City Review, The Summerset Review, Roanoke Review, Third Wednesday, Collateral and The New York Quarterly Anthology Without a Doubt: Poems Illuminating Faith.