Embrace the Dawn

Embrace the Dawn: Finding Sacredness in Everyday Life "To live fully is to listen, to notice, and above all, to remain on kissing terms with life." In her fourth collection of poetry, Maryam Daftari invites readers into a world where the ordinary is lifted into quiet radiance. With a rare blend of emotional honesty and spiritual tenderness, Daftari explores the delicate transformations of dawn, the whispered teachings of flowers, and the resilient beauty found in the "kintsugi" of human experience-the art of mending what is broken with the gold of hope. From the award-winning ghazal "As It Rises One Degree," a moving meditation on our changing climate, to intimate reflections on the enduring bonds of family and the "inner child" that keeps wonder alive, these poems serve as a lived philosophy. Daftari traces the emotional terrain of sorrow and renewal, suggesting that embracing the dawn requires absorbing the night's lessons with courage. Whether recounting memories of a childhood, the warmth of community in a small-town cafe, or the silent pulse of secrets in a Beijing alley, Daftari's voice remains steady, humane, and profoundly awake. Embrace the Dawn has an undercurrent of finding sacredness in the ordinary, unmasking the profundity of the present moment-an invitation to pause, breathe, and rediscover the sacredness that dwells in the hush of morning and the ordinary moments that become extraordinary when seen with a loving heart. Maryam Daftari is a retired lecturer in political science and a China specialist. She is a poet, pianist, and award winning nature photographer. Maryam has published three books and over 25 articles on Chinese affairs, has lectured on International Relations and Comparative Politics, specifically on Chinese Government and Politics at several universities for over three decades. She started writing poetry as an undergraduate, winning several awards. Maryam's poems have been chosen for publication in many of the annual editions of Lyrical Iowa (2016-2025) and San Diego Poetry Annual (2013-2025), A Year in Ink (2023), in Stand Forth and A Step Between, publications of Iowa's Society of Great River Poets. Her poems have also appeared in an anthology of San Diego poets entitled Sundays at Liberty Station. She won 1st place in Traditional Poetry Style (ghazal) in the Iowa Poetry Association competition in 2024 for "As It Rises One Degree." Maryam is the author of 3 poetry collections, Like Magic but Real, Haiku Workbook and Kintsugi: Poems of Hope and Healing. Her favorite poets are Rumi and Mary Oliver.