Afghan-American poet Homa Mojadidi manifests the magnitude and all-encompassing power of reverence and divinity with her poem “Submission”. As the angel Gibreel reveals the Holy Quran to Muhammad in the desert in the sparse lines of Homa’s “Submission”, readers are witness to the emptiness of a prophetic vessel filling with the mighty wisdom of holiness, of God. “Submission” is a poem which nearly pulses with power. “Most of my poems are a testament to the losses and forced migrations my family endured due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan,” Homa told The Dewdrop. “But lately, my poems have taken a strong spiritual turn towards finding a home, a sense of belonging, strength, and healing in language and in my Sufi spiritual heritage,” she revealed.
Submission
The revelation came
———–in increments
———————-too heavy—
———–to bear all at once
The weight of God’s unspoken words
———–spoken by Gibreel to Muhammad
———————-peace be upon him
Caused him
———–to break into a sweat
———————-caused his camel
to kneel down
Who can bear
———–the weight of God’s words
———————-the emptiness of submission?
Homa Mojadidi
Homa Mojadidi is an Afghan American writer and translator. Her translation of Bedil’s ghazals, I Abandoned All Desire was published in the November 14th issue of Asymptote and was long listed for the 2025 Deep Vellum Best Literary Translations award. Her work has also appeared or is forthcoming in Washington Square Review, South Carolina Review, Calyx, Gulf Stream, Anomalous Press, Blue Mountain Review, Mudlark, One Art, Beyond Words Literary, Arcana Poetry Anthology, and IHRAF Publishes. Her work explores the themes of loss, exile, memory, and mysticism. Homa has an M.A. in English Literature from the University of North Florida and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing with a concentration in poetry from George Mason University.
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