Because this is the American Story Too

The CIA staged a coup,
The people wanted 
The freedom to choose, 
INSTEAD - a theocracy
That ruled with an iron fist. 
And her parents fled, 
And ended up here, 
Their promise
Reduced to washing dishes
And barely holding on.
In a one-bedroom apartment,
They named their only child
The Persian word for “dawn,”
And the American kids
Laughed and teased
That little girl
Who had gormeh sabzi
Instead of ham and cheese. 
And in the summers, 
She received her first
Hijab of many. 
Two big eyes
Lost beneath
One long eyebrow,
A crumpled veil, 
Forced on her head. 
She was
Born in one country, 
To people lost from another, 
And this, 
This is the American story too – 
How she grew up 
To watch 
As her blood lines
Fought to be free.