DOVETALES

With Mishana Hosseinioun

Photo(s) by Luke Thomas

BEAT OF OURS: Ode to Jack Hirschman

By Mishana Hosseinioun

January 20, 2006

to you
to the letters of your
first name
last name
all names
spell you
cast a spell
at once

never leave
a soul
nameless
faceless
aimless
do you

to the you and me in
we
are
family
under one big roof
of sky

to you
because poets are beat
Luther Kings dethroned
on death
row
row
row
are would-be Leonardos
roaming the streets, deranged Picassos
budding Oppenheimers straddle seesaws

to the
bold
eagle
on your shoulders
white flag
of your mane

to you
comrade
beat of ours
just when we thought
the beat was
spent
loose change

Mishana Hosseinioun is the Program Director of International Convention on Human Rights (ICHR), a non-profit dedicated to drafting a legally enforceable international human rights document. She is a longstanding intern in Mayor Gavin Newsom's office in San Francisco and a recent graduate of Rhetoric and Near Eastern Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. Email Mishana at Mishana@ichr.org

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