Poem by Iman Yadawar

The city is a wound that language stitches
It's an era where even the sky cannot contain our restlessness
When flying has no place to embrace you, it becomes wandering
Nature is a museum when viewed with today's eyes,
It turns yellow
With this view flowers don't bloom
A century won't display a green painting for us
You see no letter of memory clings to the height of a willow tree!
No one is seen whose soul waves in the heights for a rendezvous
No one is seen who has laid out a prayer rug towards their heart
Everyone prays for their eyes
What's more frightening than
• A human staring at the sky?
Who doesn't say one day a cloud in its final cry
Will return life to the beginning!
Do you think caves will shelter us again?
What a sickness life is!
The earth in place of my heart,
Beats like a round ball inside my body
As if only I hear its cry and no one else cares.
I walk through the streets and no smile rebuilds my path
The streets here wet with beggars' tears
I walk and collect those songs that spill from drunkards' mouths
When they drunkenly [mourn] their lost age
Our city whitened the hair of those
Who wanted the city's heart not to blacken
Oh my God
Why don't you send a rainbow necklace
For the neck of these black streets of our silent city?
Oh my God, give me a planet
Let poets rebuild it
Give me a language
That no one can translate your name into the language of war
Give me a lamp from your light,
So the city won't get lost in darkness
Oh my God, give me a memory so the city won't forget its memories
So that the city will no longer fear you, nor be deceived by Satan, nor kill its poets.
- Iman Yadawar
Iraq

Iman Yadwar is a talented student and poet from Kirkuk, Kurdistan. Born in 2000 in the Karez village of Khalkhalan, she has made a name for herself in the literary world. Her achievements include winning the 2nd Prize at the 2022 Shan Poetry Festival, securing the first prize at the Malay Jabari Festival, and receiving the second Ruanga Award in Iraq. Iman has also been honored with 12 honorary degrees, a testament to her dedication and passion for poetry. Her poems have been translated into several languages, including Persian, English, and Arabic, allowing her work to reach a global audience. As a young poet, Iman's talent and accomplishments have earned her recognition and admiration in the literary community.