Oh may he live in infamy

This poem was written in 2009 and performed at a seminar at UAEU to promote reading literacy

 

Oh may he live in infamy

In the poorest of neighborhoods

In Anatolie

 

where so it goes.

 A lost time it was,

a wonderful moment,

forever funny

but never nervous

we walked into the fire to see…

a chance to crawl out.

 

What is there to eat?

and you sit down at the empty counter

and order a steak. 

Medium rare. 

No one is there. 

It is early. 

or it is late.

it is dark

you get up

brush your teeth

“and history slips into my thoughts

like a distant call

from love far away”

and you slap yourself

see the horror

…did we really do it? 

Santa Maria

 

but so it goes.

Time has stopped 

your order never made it to the kitchen. 

I get up and find the cook is dead. 

Someone

stuffed the cook in the kitchen in the microwave

with your steak

and au gratin pototaoes

your salat

with crunchy tomatoes. 

Outside again

Bending into a hellish wind

like a kid caught in

a Gitchigomee gale

eyes closed,

hand over mouth,

I walk backwards for ten minutes. 

a desert ruthlessly clean

in twenty minutes

the charred remains will disappear. 

Nowhere to escape the cutting air ,

no place to hide

pins and needles

pounding

pounding

Then it stops. 

Blowing sand falls

Like a finished fight

from the sky,

A blue sky

And look, behold,  a mall. 

We snake through the car park

full of old BMW’s

Into

cool refreshing air, 

and shake off a pound of sand

for a pound of flesh 

Never nervous

Never wanting

Always helpful

Last in line 

Today you have 50 million dirhams.