عشق آمریکایی من (نُه. پرنده‌ی فارسی‌خوان)

My American Love

        Thirty-Two Poems for Wendy

Nine.

Persian-Singing Bird

By Majid Naficy

There is a bird in my throat

Which knows only Persian.

Whatever I teach her in English

She still sings in her mother’s tongue.

I stand in front of the mirror

Put my tongue between my teeth

And say: “Three, three”

But I hear: “Tree, tree.”

Suddenly, I notice the rumbling

Of the No. 3, from the street below.

Now, I must call her

And say that I’ll be late.

Be sure not to say “boss” instead of “bus”

Or to pronounce the first letter of her name as “V”!

For “W”, I must round my lips

Just as I do when I kiss her.

Qoo-qoo-li-qoo-qoo

Cock-a-doodle-doo.

                February 13, 2008  

POEMS: 1. On the Bridge, ۲. I Hope the Water Returns, ۳. Empty Baskets ۴. Coffee Maker ۵. Anxious Heart ۶. Washing ۷. Bougainvillea ۸. Simple Truth ۹. Persian-Singing Bird ۱۰. The Gardener