Nohe & Khoshbazan – November 2025

Marjan Khoshbazan and Timothy Nohe traded art and words. Timothy shared this image, titled “Speculative Flora – Thriving sweet peas,” with Marjan:

In response, Marjan wrote this poem:

No one is allowed to see beauty

No one was allowed
to see another’s beauty.

They were planted
in separate cages.

Each dreamed
of a flower more beautiful
than itself.

In darkness and loneliness,
they grew,
pulling their faces
out of the soil.

Each day, they became
more certain
of their own dark skin,

and kept stretching
their necks,
hoping to

see a flower
brighter than itself

Sorrow slid
from their veins,
down their faces,
and sank
into the roots.

The sad roots,
without will,
curled and twisted
beneath the earth—

until one day,
each root
touched another.

Each spoke
of its own fear,

and in the darkness,
every flower’s face
began to glow.

Someone outside
wanted the flowers’ beauty
to die.

* * * * *

Marjan shared this poem with Timothy:

She was running in the garden,
and her dress
was drifting in the wind.

She had just heard
the news of her husband’s leaving,
and with tears,
she planted
a few crows
in the ground.

In response, Timothy made this image, titled “Corvidae”: