She’s Not Exotic Like Iranian Girls

Sima Nahan

A drop of rain fell from a cloud,

It was put to shame by the vastness of the sea:

For where there is the sea, what am I?

If it is then I am not.

This is an example of sahle momtane’: impossible simplicity. Roya was pacing among the fig trees and potted Yas, studying for a quiz. Sa’di had managed to capture in words the elusive simplicity of being. And she was struggling to grasp something — something like how poetry mimics being. But literature was old-fashioned, math modern. And yet, math homework long done, she found thinking about poetry had no end. Sahle momtane’ bewildered her and gave her a headache.  She gave up and went to her room to let off steam and clear her mind. She put on Jimi Hendrix. No one had told her it could not or should not be done.

She’s Not Exotic Like Iranian Girls