MAP
#75
Theme:
AIPF 1999 Poets
1.
From Mahdi Jaber, of Houston. Mahdi is scheduled to read his poetry
at Borders Books, Saturday, April 17.
I
do not want to read the newspaper
turn
on the television or the radio
or
open any window,
Today
I want to vacate all news of misery,
all
tales of suffocating freedoms,
all
stories of loss,
I
want silence served in my today,
I
won't ask for justice of the palates,
I
wont ask why people tie ropes around their stomachs
and
sleep dreaming for bread and clean water,
If
fruits grow on trees,
I
will not ask where did you hide the wheat,
I
will say that Hunger begets hunger and ask for
Silence.
Mahdi
Jaber
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2.
Sharla Clos also hails from Houston. She will perform at Movements
Gallery, "I'm Every Woman" venue, Saturday, April 17.
Hot
Java
One
takes a sip
licking
lips
licking
the rim
tongue
hot
taste
flavorful
sliding
down throat deep
asks
"may
I have a refill, please?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3.
Mark Brandeis, from Ontario (Canada, not California) is on the bill
at Waterloo Ice House at 26 Doors, Saturday, April 17.
MAD
AT THE WORLD WITH A CANE
Mad
at the world
A
young punk with a cane
Stabs
the unset cement
again
and again and again
Red-green
acid his hair
and
Doc Marten acid his shoes
Leather
jacket black a void with
studs
in his nose and ears and face
Spitting
hate to the world
pitting
Hate
POPHERISM
165
I
can never seem to save enough
To
afford
Paradise
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4.
Patricia Fiske lives right here in hometown Austin. She will read at
Whole Bean Coffee House, Friday, April 16.
SILENT
SCREAMS THROUGH VEIL
Smothered
in cloth and dense mesh veil
Afghan
women condemned to burqua jail
Women
doctors can't practice healing
Nor
be treated by males, too revealing
How
is it possible?
A
country has enslaved half it's population
Yet
no official outrage from our sick nation
We
rattle sabers at every drop of oil
We
must value women less than soil
How
is it possible?
Afghanis
have harbored, with a surly shrug
A
civilian-killing terrorist, a villainous thug
Blackmailing
us to recognize Taliban
If
they cease protecting this evil man
How
is it possible?
Now
we're bent on bombing the Serbs
Seems
just fine with folks in the burbs
While
Serbs get Nato's mighty fist
Talibans
don't rate tap on the wrist
How
is it possible?
The
media's so besot with lurid scandals
It's
all but ignored those Taliban vandals
Will
we look back, as Germans must
And
wonder if we did what was just
IT
IS POSSIBLE.
by
Patricia Fiske