A. Z. Foreman

Portrait of Firdwasī

     His son dead, he puts trouble on the run 
writing. Wars boil. His years are nearly gone.
The Lord of Wisdom and the Soul has done
a nasty number over Khorasan, 
     so now he lives to let killed mythos start 
back singing. Now not even Ali could shiver
the agiary in his Shi'ite heart
that burns like Rustam's blade in Sohrab's liver, 
     legending an Iran of oaths and curses, 
a land where all Shahs fall as ages spin
as if erosive bloodstreams traced his verses 
into the ruined arch at Madayin: 
     "This world will never be your faithful friend 
or show you her true face. You simply end." 

A. Z. Foreman is a linguist, poet, short story author and/or translator pursuing a doctorate at the Ohio State University. His work has been featured in the Threepenny Review, Rattle, ANMLY, Poet Lore and elsewhere including two people’s tattoos but not yet the Starfleet Academy Quarterly or Tattooine Monthly. He writes from the edge of thought between sleep and waking. He wants to pet your dog.