art ~ spirit ~ transformation
e*lix*ir

e*lix*ir #17: Dedicated to the Ten Martyrs of Shiraz
Summer 2024
 

TABLE OF CONTENTS


Editorial

Art and Advocacy

Fiction

The Bluest Part of the Sky by Tanin
The Lake by Nourin Omidi
The Rope by Mehrsa Mastoori

Plays

Tahereh and Jamshid: A One-Act Play by Sandra Lynn Hutchison

Feature

The Skies She Didn’t See: Paintings & Poetry by Jean Wilkey and Sandra Lynn Hutchison

Letters

A Letter to Mona from Shiraz by Maava
A Letter to Mona from Yazd by Bahar Rohani

Poetry

Soul Garments by June Paisa Perkins

Remembering the Ten Martyrs of Shiraz

The Patio by Nourin Omidi
A Free Spirit by Nava Nazifi
The Flowers of Shiraz: My Spiritual Superheroes by Shadi Tajeddini
Mona Mahmoudnejad: Through the Eyes of a Child by Kimiya Roohani
The Other Mona: Forever Seventeen by Mona Shahgholi
The Flowers of Shiraz: The Story of a Play by Hannan Hashemi
Free Spirits and Butterflies by Sandra Lynn Hutchison

Prison Stories

One Stitch at a Time by Sama Khalily
Where is Hannan Hashemi? by Sandra Lynn Hutchison
My Thirty-Four Days in an Iranian Prison by Hannan Hashemi

Dreams and Visions

What Mona Wanted: A Prayer for Resilience by Kimiya Roohani
I Dream of a Country by Maava
The Dreams of a Planet Earth Citizen by Shadi Tajeddini
Iran Will Rise by Taranom

Personal Reflections on Bahá’í Texts

The Power of Faith in Facing Afflictions by Ghazal

Comics

Ruhi & Riaz by Sama Khalily

Announcements

More Prison Poems — A Tale of Love by Mahvash Sabet


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Jean Wilkey

Soul Garments

(for Mona Mahmoudnejad)

by JUNE PAISA PERKINS

(i)

She’ll set the world on fire if we let her spirit be!
Dreaming of colored robes in a box,
she draws closer to the flames.

She sails the ocean of His words, thirsty for sacrifice,
says, Mother give those hugs to others than me,
Divide that gift of fruit so everyone can share...

She prays that her sisters will recall the scent
they most love, at the very moment of death --
She’ll set the world on fire if we let her spirit be!

(ii)

Prayerful solitude at midnight,
sweet vectors of fortitude,
prophetic drawings,
unpacking soul garments
from dream boxes,
subtracting self,
dividing gifted fruit to share,
the press of her sisters’ fingers
as they look through prison glass --
Then a defiant flight from gravity,
the earth!

Those seeking to divide will fail,
have not calculated
the divine equation...