This paper features literary translations of the Persian (Dari) poetry of six contemporary women poets from the city of Herat, Afghanistan. Alongside samples of their work, the presentation places this literary selection in context, arguing for its importance as a form of socio-political protest, identity assertion, and resilience solidification in the aftermath of decades of violence and oppression. The selection includes only poetry published post-2001, or after the fall of the Taliban, under whose regime women were specifically barred from education and publishing written work. Throughout that dark period, and even earlier during years of conflict and insecurity beginning with the 1978 Saur Revolution and the Soviet invasion, many Afghan women pursued their education and developed their literary talents in secret. My presentation begins with an overview of the historic importance of Herat as an artistic and literary center in the region, acknowledging the powerful cultural influence of the poetic arts in Afghanistan, especially as means of expressing dissent. Using samples of poetry from each of six prominent Herati women poets (Nadia Anjuman, Fariba Haidari, Fereshta Nilab Sahel Noorzayi, Somaya Ramesh, Elaha Sahel, and Roya Sharifi), I demonstrate multiple strategies that make this poetry an active means of confronting, processing, and surviving the various effects of the conflict environment experienced by Afghan women. The process of translating these poems, then, is not only a literary and linguistic exercise, but one that, in order to be effective, requires a profound understanding not only of the cultural and historical context, but of the individual and collective trauma of war and gender-based violence. Translating poetry produced in conflict or its aftermath is, in some ways, akin to translating conflict itself, as re-lived, grieved, challenged, or overcome in the verses of Afghanistan’s contemporary women poets.