Unveiled Masih skipped along an avenue in London
far from her home in Tehran.
Cherry blossoms framed her face and pine cones
at her feet were filled with promise.
She rode a swing high on the playground swing set
and the breeze was lovely. The caption under
the photo she posted online said it was illegal
for women to be unveiled in public in her country.
100,000 sympathisers liked Masih’s photo and
a campaign began: My Stealthy Freedom called
on women to send images of themselves unveiled.
Courageous participants shared photos
of the choice they have been long denied.
For Masih it’s all about choice. Her mother has
always worn the veil and may continue to do so.
Masih has a dream: to stroll unveiled on a street
in Tehran, arm-in-arm with her mother in hijab.
Masih’s dream is unfulfilled. She remains one
of Iran’s fugitive daughters, robbed of her parents
some three thousand days.
JAMES GERING – diarist, poet and fiction writer – has been writing from the heart for many decades and is the Australian Society of Authors Emerging Poet of the Year, 2018. James has published a collection of poetry, Staying Whole While Falling Apart (Interactive Press, 2021). His next collection, Tickets to the Fall of Icarus, is due out later this year with the same publisher. He is currently very busy fine-tuning his major work of 2022: My Year Of Writing Dangerously – a poet’s prose poetry diary. James lives in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, where he runs the Inklings Writer Workshops for the local community. He also climbs the cliffs and abseils the canyons in search of Rilke’s solitude, Chekhov’s humility and dreamscapes in general. He welcomes visitors at jamesgering.com.