The Afghan Mona Lisa: An Epic of the Unvoiced and Anonymous Women of Afghanistan

By Anosha Roya Zereh

The Afghan woman has been spoken for, depicted in numerous ways since the fall of the Taliban in 2011. Afghan women have been represented in the Western media, both in the television and the news broadcast copiously. They have made the Times magazine cover page, revealed in the National Geographic, and have been pronounced as victims of womans rights. Their crime simply being born in Afghanistan as a woman in an era unfavorable to their gender.

I have investigated and listened to long hours of heartbreaking stories by Afghan women in numerous countries, conversed with old and young women, and read plentiful anecdotes of Afghan womens narratives around the world for over ten years. Although I cannot claim what they have experienced completely, I have exerted years of love inscribing for them their narratives, their depiction of what took place in their lives, as well as their interpretation of their struggles and daily burdens. Although they are my words, nevertheless they represent their rightful voice. While it is my pen that was used to write these poems, in every poem, in every verse, it is the fighting potency of these women. And we witness through their lens the long-suffering echoed throughout the book in their own words. I am blessed to have been favored as an unassuming envoy for their voices.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 20, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483646855

Anosha Roya Zereh

About the author Anosha Zereh is a social activist working with orphaned children and widowed woman in Afghanistan. She lives with her husband and two children in Berkeley California.

Book preview

Copyright © 2013 by Anosha Roya Zereh.

Library of Congress Control Number:     2013909582

ISBN:             Hardcover               978-1-4836-4684-8

                       Softcover                 978-1-4836-4683-1

                       Ebook                      978-1-4836-4685-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 06/17/2013

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Contents

Introduction

Is the Circus Show Over?

A Woman’s Asylum

Story of Afghanistan

There Is Only One God

Hyphenated Identity

Welcome, My Daughter

Am I a Burden?

The Pashtun Men

Walk in Kabul

Afghan Grandmother

Sorrow Is Knocking On Your Door!

Prayer

Obedience of an Afghan Wife

Kabul in the Midst of the Rite

Kabul

Glorious Afghanistan

Pairi-Daeza

Contained by the Four Walls

Kohistan’s Knoll

Love of Pomegranate

Unpardonable Sin

Spring

Eye

Child Doll

Running Blissfully toward the Flame

The Swan

The Eight Rudiments to the Truth

The Afghan Mona Lisa

The Bold Afghan Eagle

Veiled, Unveiled, and Veiled Again!

Forlorn

Lovers’ Nest

Submit

Emigrant

Anosha has done a great job in eloquently expressing the fearless voices of the Afghan women with their unique dimensions, aspirations, and feelings about many aspects of human conditions. Her approach stands in sharp contrast with the camouflaged and stereotypical representation of the Afghan women by the western media.

Mohammad H. Qayoumi, Ph.D.,

President, San Jose State University

"An amazing poet, Anosha exemplifies the best of humanity and broadcasts the voice of the Afghan women to the world. The words by Albert Pike are relevant here, ‘What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.’ The Afghan Mona Lisa remains and is immortal."

Hasan Nouri,

Humanitarian and Hoover Medalist

"Anosha Zereh may have left her native Afghanistan, but