Reskinned Moloch
             To: Ukrainian children after Russian invasion 
has raised again his shadow
with opened arms 
to burn the children, 
though has changed, reskinned, 
this time

his arms are open 
to embrace the world, 
Ukraine, Europe … 
what else would be the next?

perhaps still I am an immature child 
who dreams maturity of a lovely world 
in every poem 
innocent
unaware of
plentiful pollen of immature cruelty
growing under the skin of 
this mushroom-shaped cloud
 
perhaps i am a child who 
has learned and believed 
Moloch is untrue 
but had not known that 
it can be emulated-reskinned
or it’s nothing but a skin

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Mansour Noorbakhsh writes and translates poems in both English and Farsi, his first language. He tries to be a voice for freedom, human rights and environment in his writings. He believes a dialog between people around the world is an essential need for developing a peaceful world, and poetry helps this dialog echoes the human rights. Currently he is featuring The Contemporary Canadian Poets in a weekly Persian radio program https://persianradio.net/. The poet’s bio and poems are translated into Farsi and read to the Persian-Canadian audiences. Both English (by the poets) and Farsi (by him) readings are on air. This is a project of his to build bridges between the Persian-Canadian communities by way of introducing them to contemporary Canadian poets. His book about the life and work of Sohrab Sepehri entitled, “Be Soragh e Man Agar Miaeed” (trans. “If you come to visit me”) is published in 1997 in Iran. And his English book length poem; “In Search of Shared Wishes” is published in 2017 in Canada. His English poems are published in “WordCity monthly” and “Infinite Passages” (anthology 2020 by The Ontario Poetry Society). He is a member of The Ontario Poetry Society and he is an Electrical Engineer, P.Eng. He lives with his wife, his daughter and his son in Toronto, Canada.