Call me Ishmael. Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world... Moby ****, Herman Melville
Call me
Ishmael.
I hail
from
the clan
of Adam.
I am the
beloved
child
of Hagar;
unbowed son
of an upright
Ibrahim.
I am
the older
half brother
of Musa,
cousin to
Isa and
father to
Muhammad.
I work
in a bakery
that
overlooks
the roiling
waters of
the Nile.
It’s
owned
by an
Egyptian
General,
managed
by a
platoon
of his
hand picked
lieutenants.
I fire the
ovens,
roll the
dough
and pack
the loaves.
We bake
all day
but it seems
we cannot
quench
the hunger
that grips
our people.
My
brother
Musa
says
I bake
the bread
of tyrants
and serve it
to a people
starving for
freedom.
Musa
likes to say
if we wish
to feast at
the banquet
of liberty
we must
refuse
to eat
the bread
of fear.
In winter
our hunger
blends with
the misery
of living
in frigid
apartments.
My
dilapidated flat
in Darb Al-Ahmar
is one of a
thousand owned
by Cairo’s
most notorious
police chief.
The roofs leak,
the plumbing
is broken,
no heat in winter,
in summer
it’s a sweltering
furnace.
My home
is the
handiwork of a
cold blooded
landlord’s
indifference
to the freezing
rooms they
force us
to live in.
In their eyes,
our sole purpose
in life is to feather
their nest.
They demand
that the rent be paid
on the first of every month
and will make our life miserable
if we’re one day late
or a half a pound short.
Do they
actually
think
that we
live
only
to assure
the
warmth
and comfort
for them
and their
children?
In winter
they freeze
us into
inaction;
while
during the
summer,
swirling
ceiling fans
fail to relieve the
oppressive heat
of fire they
breathe down
our necks.
The batons
of the police
freely swing to
crack a head if
we fail to bow to
their authority
or grease
the extortionists
palms with
tributes to their
*******.
They never
shake down
their friends
that drive
the fancy
silver
Mercedes.
The big guys
roll wherever
they want.
They
roll over
anything
they
choose.
They take
up parking
spaces in our lives;
leaving less room
for us to park
our tiny scooters.
I’m certain
the name
on their
drivers license
says privilege
and impunity.
Yet
somehow
we
always
get stuck
picking up
the tab
for
their
tolls.
Some slavishly
put coins
in parking meters
for them and get
compensated for it
by being offered
the opportunity
to wash their cars.
I’m glad
that I get
to bake
bread.
I was talking
to my friend
Isa at the
coffee shop,
he said,
“We needn't
live in a constant
state of
want and fear.”
A young man
sitting at
the next table
was a zealous
believer from
The Muslim
Brotherhood.
His name is
Muhammad,
he hands me
The Holy Quran.
My dear
Muslim
brother
exhorts
me to
submit.
He says that is
the way to a
fearless life;
free of any
need,
save
Allah’s
salvation.
My
Muslim
brother
is firm
in his
belief
that
all
the answers
to
all
my problems
and
all
the answers
to
all
Egypt's problems
were
breathed on to
the pages of
The Holy Quran
with
The Prophet Muhammad’s
-(may peace be upon him)-
own breath;
his tongue
inscribing
the holy pages
in Arabic
squeezed
out by the
loving
embrace
of the
Angel
Gabriel.
Mubarak also boasts that
he too has all the answers to
alleviate the ills that plague us.
He’s
been ruling us
for forty years;
while the
Holy Quran
has been
with us
forever.
Our
impatience
grows
as we yearn
for these promises
to be filled.
Mubarak swears
he knows what is best
for the children
of Egypt.
Mubarak insists
that the way to
freedom from
want and fear
is submission to
his perpetual rule.
I get uneasy when
someone suggests
an infallibility.
I accept the
supreme dominion
and divine knowledge
of the Quran and Hadiths
but I’m not too sure
that the Imams,
politicians and
generals who
swore by its
truth really
understand
it themselves.
I am left
to question
if any of them
even see me?
I am more of a
person then a
Muslim;
and
sometimes
I wonder
if even
Allah
has forgotten
the peril of
Ibrahim’s
children.
I wonder have
I disappeared
from Allah’s
unblinking eye
as well?
Sometimes
I look into
the mirror
to see if
I am real.
I am relieved
to see my image.
I have not
become invisible
to myself.
I am
emboldened
to know
that I am a
real person
of flesh and bones
with a mind
full of conviction
refreshed
with the blood
of a warm beating
heart.
I remind myself
I am a man,
not a faceless
subject
to be ruled.
I am an individual
not just another
submissive being
under the control
of a pious Imam.
I am Ishmael.
I recognize the fire of
life in my own eyes.
I can see the scars
of my decisions,
that my life has
etched upon my face.
I am not invisible.
I am not a casualty
of the twists of history
or the events of fate.
I take
responsibility
for me.
I am not a fish
swimming within
a giant school
trapped in an
ocean current
propelled
to a
predetermined
destination
of a well
laid net.
I am a man.
Let it be known
that I claim
responsibility
for my manhood
and I will
command
respect from
those who now
lord over me.
Like my father
Ibrahim, they
will recognize
me as an
unbowed
upright man.
They will
call me
Ishmael.
As I stand
I will raise my voice.
I will not remain
voiceless.
I am one voice
of many
who like me
have not
been heard.
We were once
grovelling dogs
that have been
transformed
into free range wolves,
set free from its cage,
we now form in packs
howling for justice.
We
will raise
our voice
in concert
so all
may hear.
We
will
make
them
listen.
They will
know who
I am.
Call me Ishmael.
Music Selection:
Muddy Waters
Mannish Boy
Oakland
2/9/12
jbm
this poem is part of a series on the Arab Spring
