Holly Jahangiri
LightNews LightNews
banner
jahangiri.us
Holly Jahangiri
@jahangiri.us
1.2K followers 1.8K following 1.2K posts
Award-winning author and poet who draws inspiration from her family, from her own childhood adventures (some of which only happened in her overactive imagination), and from readers of all ages.

President, Poetry Society of Texas

Houston, Texas
she/her
Posts Replies Media Videos
jahangiri.us
Protesters, specifically. Accompanied by this:
Military Members: What to Do lf You're Ordered to Violate the Constitution War and Peace DoD Inspector General Hotline: 800-424-9098 https://www.dodig.mil/Hotline GI Rights Hotline (Independent & Confidential): 877-447-4487 https://girightshotline.org Army IG (local office lookup) https://ig.army.mil JAG (Military Legal Counsel): Request through your chain of command or base legal office EO / Chaplain (for confidential internal reporting): Check your unit or installation directory
June 12, 2025 at 12:59 AM
jahangiri.us
A tiny purple ninja on a purple paper dragon. He's my inspiration today.
A tiny purple ninja on a purple paper dragon.
June 11, 2025 at 9:44 PM
jahangiri.us
Migrant (a Quintilla - Quintillae?)

jahangiri.us/2020/quintil...

#poem #poetryonbluesky #bluebonnets #texas #honeybees
Migrant Bluebonnets spread their azure hue, warm Texas breezes give their cue: blooms bow their heads and turn as one to welcome back the morning sun as bees share news and sip the dew. Sweet honey, amber, wildflowers infused with habaneros’ fire - Olympus’ gods would trade their powers, to steal bees’ nectar, risk Queen’s ire, and while away their golden hours. There they lie, in fields of clover, sated now their plundering’s over. Exhausted, too, the Queen of bees finds refuge, shade in nearby trees. Hunger of her hive’s what drove her. Across the meadow, wings in flight beat time and urge them on. The hive hums a dirge. If only they could fight they would, with all their tiny might keep Queen and hive, their home, alive.
May 24, 2025 at 8:01 PM
jahangiri.us
Inspiration "ripped from the headlines" - sometimes it comes from the strangest of places. www.msnbc.com/top-stories/...

#poem #rulesformen #toxicmasculinity #brainfreeze
May 24, 2025 at 3:06 PM
jahangiri.us
Do you enjoy poetry? Do you love Oklahoma writers? (Or those with roots in OK, even if they live in TX now - like ME? 😁)

There's a new episode (plus 11 older ones!) of Behind the Rain to listen to:

www.buzzsprout.com/1845017/epis...

okiebookcast.com/behindtherain

#poetsofbluesky #blueskypoets
April 17, 2025 at 2:36 PM
jahangiri.us
Mother knows the truth, the sorrow of the bloody egg now cracked above the open flame, reduced to breakfast, scrambled breath of another's young on the soft, slack, formless maw -- her son scatters corn dreams of war that she may labor to produce another and another and another until they lay her on the block, neck stretched and severed, gently pull the feathers from her tired flesh declare her tenderness a virtue.
March 30, 2025 at 11:28 PM
jahangiri.us
Ekphrastic poem, "Ocean Biome," based on artwork of the same name by Caroline Z. Marcos. Within the mermaid's purse there lurks potential: a toothless, embryonic shark, half-formed, the harmless killer sleeps. Microscopic fragments, cork, float free of messages and empty bottles drift, aimless, lacking purpose. Kaleidoscopic mandalas bob deep, still glistening with surface-captured light, warmed by sun- irradiated clouds in fiery shades of tangerine. Lemon-slice reflections, burnished gold, a blazing comet-fish encapsulated in methane bubble - electric blue - streaks left, tail on fire. Translucent, stained-glass blossoms glow deep below the sapphire sea resolved to rise, returning to the barren land— Devoid of us. Indifferent. Invertebrates find growth, feed on peace among strange ornaments in a silent, alien ocean biome.
February 14, 2025 at 9:15 PM
jahangiri.us
Three little words make a big difference, I think.
Revised poem: Progress, They Call It (a Contrapuntal Poem) progress, they call it: slashing, burning, progress— can’t stop the forward motion of a nation! encroaching, elbowing, uprooting the living who would want to thwart the people’s will, or kill the canopy of verdant sunlit trees that once breathed sweet aroma of crisply minted bills enrobed in leather with our exhalations. we breathed theirs until they gasped the faintest whiff of manliness, invoking will, their last, until they fell to saw and ax, bulldozed determination. ancestors’ words forgotten as new money’s burned to make a way for strip malls and wealth, unfettered by past sense, decorum, grows, power lines—such progress don’t go well with pines— it goes to feed the engines of industry that only thrive incinerating cedar selves in swirling smoke coal-fired on the backs of miners, steelworkers, “little people”— their ashes drifting heavenwards and carried those dispensable, extra mouths to feed until on the santa ana winds to add a colored layer the robots shove them off the ledge on the cliffs of palo duro choking out the summer sun.
January 30, 2025 at 2:04 PM
jahangiri.us
Always nice to start the day with an affirmation!

Thanks, God!
Screenshot: God liked my post.
January 30, 2025 at 1:57 PM
jahangiri.us
Good morning! Here's a #poem for today. First time writing a #contrapuntal poem. Neither as hard (nor quite as easy) as it looked. Thanks for introducing me to the form, @mervynspoet.bsky.social

#Blueskypoetry #poetrycommunity #formalverse #thestaffordchallenge
A poem: Progress, They Call It (a Contrapuntal Poem - every other line comprises a standalone poem, then the two are woven together) progress, they call it: slashing, burning, progress— can’t stop the forward motion of a nation! encroaching, elbowing, uprooting the living who would want to thwart the people’s will, or kill the canopy of verdant sunlit trees that once breathed sweet aroma of crisply minted bills enrobed in leather with our exhalations. we breathed theirs until they gasped the faintest whiff of manliness, invoking will, their last, until they fell to saw and ax, bulldozed determination. ancestors’ words forgotten as new money’s burned to make a way for strip malls and wealth, unfettered by past sense, decorum, grows, power lines—such progress don’t go well with pines— it goes to feed the engines of industry that only thrive incinerating cedar selves in swirling smoke coal-fired on the backs of miners, steelworkers, “little people”— their ashes drifting heavenwards and carried those dispensable, extra mouths to feed until on the santa ana winds to add a colored layer the robots shove them off a cliff to the cliffs of palo duro choking out the summer sun.
January 30, 2025 at 1:44 PM
jahangiri.us
Here's my attempt. This is after about 7 edits. Probably needs more work. There's a thread - a ray of sunshine - that unites the sonnet thematically. The volta may be too jarring, but that's just how life is right now.
January 29, 2025 at 5:51 PM
jahangiri.us
#poetryonbluesky #blueskypoems #poem #poetryasresistance #abecedarian
Austerity’s an unfamiliar thing but soon, hard times befall us—frugal skills could be required of us all. But no despairing, now! Do not accept the price! Eggs hardly justify the sacrifice. Four years: we face a famine, starved of hope; grief tries to overshadow all our joys. Here stand courageous, friends—live well and laugh instead – your tears won’t grow a thriving crop. No justice there to harvest, there’s no peace. Know kind compassion, struggle on, survive— live on, to fight another brutal day. May fear subside and warm winds guide as we negotiate the coming change, resist old foes: our apathy towards avarice, pretending “how it’s always been” precludes a quest to build a lock, to lift all boats, return some bounty—builders, dreamers— stay the course. We can, we will, we must together tear down walls between us. Let us work with one another, forge a peace. Victorious, the battle-weary rest; We needn’t “fight” on every clichéd front Except where vengeance and destruction lie a Yearning, yawning chasm; one man’s only zeal. There, fight we must, in self-defense, and win.
January 28, 2025 at 2:41 PM
jahangiri.us
This was from 1/16; registration is closed now.
January 21, 2025 at 10:36 PM
jahangiri.us
January 12, 2025 at 12:12 AM
jahangiri.us
Three happy little monsters celebrating the new year. Caption: Happy New Year 2025
January 1, 2025 at 8:05 AM
jahangiri.us
Also me.
Holly Jahangiri (childhood photo) on stage of S. S. United States. Holly Jahangiri (childhood photo) in receiving line shaking hands with senior crew on S. S. United States.
December 21, 2024 at 6:35 PM
jahangiri.us
I guess it might be fair to say she died of asbestos poisoning - or the treatment to cure it. :( The video you shared just makes me sad.
Holly Jahangiri as a child looking back at the S. S. United States in the distance.
December 21, 2024 at 3:09 PM
jahangiri.us
Lyle's heart is in the right place, but his habitual lying makes it hard for people to believe him when he does tell the truth. He doesn't want to be known as "Lyle the Liar." Can Lyle ever regain the trust of family and friends?

#kidlit #juvenile #honesty #values

amzn.to/3VGrL3p
Cover image of the children's book, A New Leaf for Lyle, by Holly Jahangiri: a smiling little boy jumping into the air, tossing fall leaves all around. Book description: Lyle's heart is in the right place, but his habit of lying about everything from whether he's brushed his teeth to why he's missed the bus make it hard for people to believe him when he does tell the truth. He doesn't want to be known as "Lyle the Liar." Can Lyle ever regain the trust of family and friends?
December 18, 2024 at 1:01 PM
jahangiri.us
Hit that button at the lower left of a post before you submit it. Lots of choices there.
December 17, 2024 at 4:20 PM
jahangiri.us
It's funny - there's a character limit to posts, but we could write a whole novel in alt text.
Writer meme. Woman points to one of many computer monitors. A man peers over her shoulder. She says, "See? She searched for chloroform, blood sprayer patterns, acid that dissolves bodies, various blunt edged weapons and the difference between the degrees of murder charges. Should I set her as a security risk?" The man replies, "No, look here. She also searched for coffee memes and about three dozen synonyms for the word 'carefully.' It's another damn writer. Move on."
December 13, 2024 at 3:34 PM
jahangiri.us
These are from your neck of the woods, @scottuhltx.bsky.social
A statue of a man fishing at the Dallas Arboretum. Fall colors. Trees at the Dallas Arboretum. Poetry Garden at the Dallas Arboretum. A quiet, walled garden with a small fountain and pretty mosaics. Winter squash variety at the Dallas Arboretum. One green and yellow squash is naturally shaped looks like a 5-pointed star or starfish.
December 13, 2024 at 1:43 AM
jahangiri.us
#OnMyWalk in SE Texas!
Fall colors in Southeast Texas. Autumn leaves reflected on a lake just before sunset. A full moon, fall colors, reflections on a lake, and small white egrets.
December 13, 2024 at 1:31 AM
jahangiri.us
Tiny little me next to a REALLY tall Senegalese palace guard. At least I thought he was really tall - when I was 5!
December 12, 2024 at 3:51 PM
jahangiri.us
Two inept robots attempting to frost a chocolate cake but making a horrible mess of the cake, the kitchen, and each other.
December 12, 2024 at 3:46 PM
jahangiri.us
My husband is under strict orders to outlive me. That means he'd better stay in shape; he's got to live to be at least 104.

This is my response to "Wouldn't it be great to live forever?" written nearly three decades ago.
Poem, "There Are Worse Things Than Death" by Holly Jahangiri.
December 6, 2024 at 10:54 PM