Issue VII: Tahmina (love and loss) explores themes of womanhood, love, and fragile grief through evocative storytelling, narratives inspired by real-life experiences, and reflective artwork and photography. Featuring over seventy pages of writing and artwork, Issue VII is alive with the rich imagery found in classical paintings and myth.
Who is Tahmina?
Tahmina is the wife of Rostam in the 10th century Persian epic The Shahnameh. She seduces and marries Rostam, and bears his son, Sohrab. Tahmina gives Sohrab a jewel so that, if he should ever meet his father in battle, Rostam will realize who he is.
The story tells of Rostam and how he eventually kills Sohrab, as he sees the tell-tale jewel too late.
What are my poems about?
Tahmina is a celebrated seductress and a woman apparently in-tune with her femininity and sexuality. She also is a mother who lost her child.
When faced with the inspiration to write about Tahmina, I turned first to ideas of happiness laced with bittersweet sexuality, womanhood, and the dusky, divine feminine. I wrote of the wistful and of the nostalgic.
The two poems that blossomed on the page are two pieces that are interconnected despite having been written several weeks apart. Each poem speaks to the strength of love and the beauty of womanhood, but one poem celebrates life while the other celebrates the end of life.
The following is a short excerpt of my poem Blue Dusk, published at Free Verse Revolution.
Crushed rose petal and gemstone
Wicked snap of jasmine
Summertime sadness wreaks melody
Gloved hands rake through blue dusk.
She breaks against you
White lace tied in French knot
Threads of desire burst from her mouth . . .
My poetry can be found on on pages 6 & 7 of Issue VII: Tahmina (love and loss). The issue is available to download via this link, or through the issues page at Free Verse Revolution. Please enjoy the issue as a whole this autumn and lose yourself to the mythic flow of the writing.