DSM Speaks Audio Tour with Sadagat Aliyeva, Community Member

Run Time: 1:33
Recorded by Sadagat Aliyeva, CultureALL Community Ambassador / 2022

How many suns have kissed your skin? The woman by the sea.
How many full moons you have seen? The woman by the sea.
The layers of stories you have woven on your spine, a sea rock on the sand.
You have become the woman by the sea.
From the day a little girl heard the sheep through the dirt road you have come a long way to reside on the shore. The woman by the sea.
You have come a long way to participate in the sea and sea rock.
The sound, the sand, and the wind, you have blended in.
The woman by the sea.
Yet still, I noticed you.
And they will see, too.
You have been there, you exist.
The woman by the sea.
How many suns have kissed your skin? the woman by the sea.
And we all forever will sing your song.
The woman by the sea. 

Sadagat Aliyeva Bio

Born and raised in Azerbaijan and now residing in Des Moines, Iowa, Sadagat mostly enjoys wandering through the magical streets of her inner world. She loves sharing her authentic experiences in her poetry, her fairytale like stories and whimsical illustrations. She’s one of the pioneers of Bicultural Iowa Writers’ Fellowship. Sadagat’s stories, poems, and illustrations have been published in the anthologies  ‘We The Interwoven’ and ‘Spark.’

DES MOINES SPEAKS

DSM Speaks are short audio reflections on artwork in our permanent collection, written and voiced by diverse members of our community. Contributors to this program were selected in partnership with CultureALL and the Des Moines Art Center. We hope by elevating these diverse ways of seeing we can encourage all visitors to connect more deeply and to see themselves and their identities within our walls.