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Their Feet Cross the Threshold

Esther Kamkar
California poet Esther Kamkar speaks about Immigrants, refugees, their perilous conditions In a world of displacement.

Sketches of Iran

Esther Kamkar
The arrest and death of a young Iranian woman by the morality police prompts the poet Esther Kamkar to consider her exile from home.

Kaddish

Esther Kamkar
Esther Kamkar’s prayer for the dead addresses the vast universality of war’s human tragedy.

Return to the White Chrysanthemums

Esther Kamkar
Esther Kamkar writes political poetry indirectly, taking us back to the unforgettable images of the death of a child trying to cross the Rio Grande.

Longing for the Garden

Esther Kamkar
The experience of migration—whether refugee or voluntary—leaves the scar of uprootedness, as the Persian/American poet Esther Kamkar explains.

Undocumented

Esther Kamkar
California poet Esther Kamkar’s “Undocumented” puts the great Wall debate in botanical perspective.

Dear Loan Director

Esther Kamkar Hum of Bees
When a loan officer turned down the poet’s request, she sent him this poem. He changed his mind. Happy Mother’s Day.

Where? Where Are You Going?

Esther Kamkar Portside
"Even if the sea does not swallow you," writes the poet Esther Kamkar (herself a migrant to North America) about the experience of migration, "your heart will be broken."

Over There

Esther Kamkar Portside
Extermination, extinction, genocide--themes of history so horrible, we seldom want to consider how close they are to our own homes. Poet Esther Kamkar reports from a Zuni friend who cannot forget what happened here,

Song of Drone

Esther Kamkar "Honey Thief" (private publication)
The euphemisms of warfare proliferate--not least phrases like "collateral damage." Esther Kamkar shines a light on the drone.