after Japanese Breakfast
Turn around and look
into the camera, then
look at me. I want to
believe in you. In cinema
we can preserve our promises
until the end of electricity.
Be sweet to me. The world
is watching. I hide the scratches
on the dining room table so
the fisheye lens doesn’t catch
how our fingernails embed themselves
deeper into the grains of wood.
My father taught me Iranian
hospitality, to feed the guests until
we have nothing left to give.
I give you everything, bake as many
sweets as possible until your teeth rot
with my kindness. Tell the camera
you love me in between bites
of Funfetti cupcakes. You love
me so sweetly you want to vomit
up the sprinkles, make art out
of stomach acid. It’s not like
I’ll believe you anyways. Actors
are not meant to share secrets,
unless in a blackout. Then we
scramble to find faces in the dark.
Ashley Hajimirsadeghi is a multimedia artist and writer. She has had work appear in Barren Magazine, DIALOGIST, Rust + Moth, and The Shore, among others. She is the Co-Editor in Chief at both Mud Season Review and Juven Press, and reads for EX/POST Magazine. More of her work can be found at ashleyhajimirsadeghi.com.
