Life is not empty:
Kindness, apples, faith.
Yes,
While there are poppies one can live on
In my heart there is something like a thicket of light,
like a morning dream
And so restless am I that I feel like running
To the far end of the plains, up to the mountaintop.
voice keeps calling me from afar

People paint because of various reasons. Some for fame, some for wealth, some for mere entertainment, some for becoming eternal, and some for the mission they believe they have or any other justified reason. But good for those who turned art into a haven so that their soul can elevate from this bright seclusion and find its way to the promised land where poppies are men and men poppies. Good for Zhaleh Malek.

Bobak Etminani, winter 2021