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

The late hours fluorescent light flicker
From the moon to the neon red lights
The scars of our fathers written on our thighs
Scared to be seen in the imminent daylight
Freelance extortionists and racketeering blacklist
Black market, black cats, capitalizing on rats
The rat race is being run by yuppies in ties
With lies and cries of spies in in the skies

Confusing their faces with ones that I like
Indecisive for lack of a vice at the peak
I scrape together letters from the people I fight
Where notes are written about the upcoming week
The world's on fire and I hold it trembling
My fingers are burning and my shoulders broken
I buckle but seconds before I go down
The world breaks open upon the cold ground

Asking the Congress to rewrite laws
That benefit and enrich themselves
Is asking the wolf not to eat the lamb.
The wolf will eat the lamb.
The lamb cannot avoid this fate
By pretending it is not worth eating.

The wealthy are well rewarded
For not caring about the poor.
To make them care the only way
Is to offer them  tributes.

The rich want you to buy
Their trinkets and toys
And leave the lawmaking to them.

As long as we let the rich
Write the laws and control
Enforcement, the law
Will be slanted in their favor.

Nothing fuels fascism like poor people,
So the rich will raise prices and
Thus keep the people poor.

Dishonest people will always
Blame someone else for their crimes.
In government, they will blame
Honest people trying to do the job
They were elected to do.

If a person fails to be outraged
At the actions of criminals,
He is either criminal himself
Or a defense attorney,
And that person may be
Both at the same time.

Among the biggest mistakes
One can ever make
Is believing campaign promises
Where no evidence exists
Of any plan to keep them.

As long as politics are run
Like a beauty contest,
Nothing like democracy
Ever has a chance to succeed.

In a democratic country,
The common people must
Expect to participate
To make it work.
That means they must work
Within the system to ensure
All nefarious people and laws
Be discovered and thrown out.

Undefended rights are only
Privileges grudgingly by government
Dispensed as alms to beggars.

In a representative government,
Everyone must be a representative.

Yesterday is a terrible day
To plan to fix things.
Today and tomorrow
Are the only time we have to do it.

If a representative
Does not walk his talk,
Stop listening to his talk
And watch his walk.

Do not expect industry or military
To protect your rights.
They are both monetary institutions
Addicted to power.

If Congresspeople earn fortunes
By serving the people,
There can be no equity
In representation.
Corruption will rule the land.

Lobbyists should be imprisoned
if they are indistinguishable
From extortionists.

Voting districts need to be
Based on the needs of the people,
Not the needs of the bank accounts
Of our leadership.

Offshore bank accounts should be
As illegal as they are immoral.

wholesome integrity accelerated by alter-egos
of those whose feel the need to exterminate fate
of many willing to go not remain
in the end it is never
the extortionists intended fate

The type that given credence
to the gutter dramatics of low-scale hybrids
or bothers about the malicious tirades of the semi-illiterates
or is fazed by the odious antics of the afflicted indentures
would be the type that had been subjugated to that evolution
and had grown eaten and slept alongside them in their sewers
such type would have either died, detained or fled long long ago

As it is I see what ****** ignorance
social and educational limitations and stunted minds does
I see how shame and guilt fights tooth and nail to hide
and I see how moral and ethical bankruptcy buoys weak witlessness
I hear them talk yet do not understand their street lingo
I see desperate acts by desperate nobodies yet it means nothing to me
though rather pitifully one senses their dire need to always battle
they all have a perceived complex of being slighted and thus
nurse the belligerence to always over dramatize and over-compensate  

I am far from numb or insensitive
neither am I a ******* who welcomes hostilities
but since I have not deliberately courted their displeasure
other than confront a gang of thieves and extortionists who swore me
vengeance for daring to call them by their professional names
I see no reason why I should fell threatened or intimidated by morons
dare I call their acolytes, errand boys and vigilantes by their expressed acts
And the truth is I cannot invest my valuable emotions on acts
and behaviours that mean nothing to me
If it truly did would I not be dead, detained or have fled by now
you betcha!

We’re all just
Walking corpses
Mass extortionists
Exploiting
One another’s
Other lovers’
Generosity
Avoiding
Indiscretion
Infidelity
Indefinite
Decay
And in the interim
Infer
There must be someone left
To save

Psyche War
the fashionable slang
for gangsters recruiting dopes
to harass and torment the innocent man
that called them out and refused to keep quiet

Revolution
the embracing banner
of racists vigilantes and gangsters
fooling the people into covert harassment
of the law-abiding black man they want beaten down

Chess Game
the odious lie to arrest
the progress of a gifted and clever man
by wasters, scums, lowlife burglars and gangsters
extortionists who want protection money from a thriving blackman

Figuring Out
the con of gangsters to invade privacy
and measure the extent of their evil assaults and harassment's
also used in planning continuous assaults and future trends
weaponizing information to blackmail any dissenting follower  (wasn't it you that told us all that and did all that, you're in and you do as you're told, or else we'll reveal your part)

Triggers
some anodyne pantomime
by a gargle of blinded numb-skull servants and hooligans
to act meaningless skits trawled from fake news misconceptions
impacting nothing but showcasing how easily controlled they are

Neon
Narcissists, loonies, ideologues
pointless irrelevances sowing division and strife's
jealousy and envy among peoples and communities
belching lies, haft truths, misinformation and disinformation

Brain-washed Morons
all buying into the manipulation
unable to think for themselves or act independently
of the insidious group-think and sheep mentality herds
that puts them in chains NOT free them from chains

Psyche War
the fashionable slang
for gangsters recruiting dopes
to harass and torment the innocent man
that called them out and refused to keep quiet

Revolution
the embracing banner
of racists vigilantes and gangsters
fooling the people into covert harassment
of the law-abiding black man they want beaten down

Chess Game
the odious lie to arrest
the progress of a gifted and clever man
by wasters, scums, lowlife burglars and gangsters
extortionists who want protection money from a thriving blackman

Figuring Out
the con of gangsters to invade privacy
and measure the extent of their evil assaults and harassment's
also used in planning continuous assaults and future trends
weaponizing information to blackmail any dissenting follower  (wasn't it you that told us all that and did all that, you're in and you do as you're told, or else we'll reveal your part)  


Triggers
some anodyne pantomime
by a gargle of blinded numb-skull servants and hooligans
to act meaningless skits trawled from fake news misconceptions
impacting nothing but showcasing how easily controlled they are

Neon
Narcissists, loonies, ideologues
pointless irrelevances sowing division and strife's
jealousy and envy among peoples and communities
belching lies, haft truths, misinformation and disinformation

Brain-washed Morons
all buying into the manipulation
unable to think for themselves or act independently
of the insidious group-think and sheep mentality herds
that puts them in chains NOT free them from chains

Pray be silent
as we cordially extend
our esteemed comtempt to our
Slave Traders, Pirates and Barbarians
who have tirelessly endeavoured in the fight
for their birthright purloined from every corners of earth
we should note in particular the gallant cowardly ongoing battle
against a Black Prince purportedly out to divest them of these birthrights

In neon light
let us give a standing ovation
to the thieves and extortionists who
burgled this Black Prince and have compaigned
ingloriously with our usual *****, murky and insidious tricks
to discredit, harrass, intimidate, hound and stalk this black Prince
and make dishonorable mention of The Macarfetty Gang for their role in orchestrating this compaign

Let us do our worst
and be as unfair, unjust and diabolical
as possible, for we are the salt of the whole earth
and its our birthright to ****, plunder, loot and steal
proud of being bullies, no one does wanton vandalism better
a special mention to that hero who cut the Sycamore Gap Tree
nothing is below the level we can sink to, our indulgence paramont
Class war is classy, innit?

Bandits. Extortionists.
Corporate pirates.
The worst of the worst.

New year? They jack up the rates.
Springtime? They jack up the rates.
Summer? Autumn? Ditto.

Expenses the excuse.
Inflation the excuse.
Hell, they don't need an excuse,
they're Big Cable *******,
so **** it.

Customer Service?
Incompetent or worse,
rude aggressive, dismissive
and incompetent.
A joke.

Tired of dealing with you?
They hang-up or leave
you hanging. Dead air.
You're welcome Buddy.

Shameless. Insulting.

Done with the b------s.
Good-bye and good riddance!

It was the perfect storm
the Miners strike had ingloriously abated
Scargill and co had taken a pasting
the Reds were incensed, militancy incandescent with rage
M. Thatcher in ascendancy
in East neck of my woods
a new wave of yuppies were buying up properties
the nouveau riche had arrived, the City was booing
the East end was ending south, the natives weren't going west way
and to cap it all
words on the grape-vine
a black rich Prince was living amongst them
living the life, exploiting the disadvantage, taking food from babies
yes! we have a scapegoat here and we know he can't fight back
Lets go get 'em....This is class war, this is war
If you don't know it, you better know it now
Thieves, gangsters, Extortionists and racist have connections
they're called 'wise guys' because they know the juice is in darkness
the devil has the  best stories because it know not the constraint of truth
Mama Capone and the gang Nefarious plus **** Bobby
have called in favours, the net-work activated
we look after our own down here, someone is going to loose arms and legs
this is Class War, the Leftist were not going to take this laying down
Our Guardian reading black yuppie couple were indignant
well I was, the Mrs was now comatose
How can crooks try to extort money from us, burgle us and then start harassing, hounding and terrorizing us
This is England, this is a civilized Nation with the Rule of Law
this is not some Dodge city in the Wild West of 18th century USA
I knew nothing, I believed in fairy tale and Father Christmas
I had at last discovered that the ubiquitous leech I mentioned earlier
was my good-self, something that I would never countenance
in a million years
I had studied earnestly, worked hard to pay for my education,
never took any welfare benefits, was law-abiding, respectful.
cared about others and my community, helped others, gave freely
yet I am now
an arrogant leech, a parasite, a germ, this privileged pompous 'I Am' with a sense of entitlement,..all these courtesy of Red propaganda and worse still, a snitch, a grass who threatened to tell all about the thieves next door and **** Bobby, who assault under-age girls ...
My God In Clear Heaven, are you seeing what is happening here?
Mama Capone has said she was going to steal the match on us
that I was going to be erased and destroyed
I had laughed, ain't done nothing wrong I replied  
How was I to know that under white fleecy clouds you do not need
to do anything wrong to be guilty of the most heinous crimes
You just need to be a quiet decent aspirant black
who would dare stand up to bullying thieves and gangsters
they said I did 'not stand a chance'
This is Nature versus Nurture, whatever they mean
On walls around, Graffiti appears 'Class War Anarchy'
somebody was getting a roasting and pasting and basting
a promising decent life was walking towards the gallows
the masses were crazed with blood lust
Mama Capone was grinning from ear to ear

The president's having a pardon party
To prove that he's a big wheel.
He's showing us that corruption here
Is NOT a very big deal.

Extortionists, swindlers, and liars
Now are going free,
While those accused of lesser crimes
Must pay a penalty.

Financial crimes are not a problem
For person number one.
Then let us see his tax returns
To see what HE has done.

In Trump's previous presidential
Pardons people saw
A whimsical and similar
Assault on the rule of law.

He wants to send a message to
His fellow partners in crime:
"Remain loyal to me and you'll
Avoid serving time."

And he claims he was concerned about
Corruption in Ukraine!
What a farce! Everyone knows
Corruption is HIS domain.

-by Bob B (2-19-20)

I'll say it again loud and clear
I said
"look at you Chris, you and your family
common cheap house burglars
you go around stealing, too useless and lazy to work
you're scroungers, none of you have ever done a day's honest work
you come to us always borrowing, money, food, sugar even bread
you pay nothing back
then you start trying to blackmail us
give us money, we know you have rich parents
you are nothing but a bunch of ***** crooks
look at you, its morning and you're already drunk, you stink
you're white, in your country, you have more opportunities than me
yet all you can make of yourselves are burglars and extortionists
you're shameless, a disgrace
how can you break into us, you neighbours house
after all we've given to you, you truly have no shame, you're scums
I will make sure the neighbourhood knows all about you
since you and your family move in there's been so much burglaries
you hubby and son, only fifteen are always in and out of jail
i am going to organize a petition to get you removed from here
you godforsaken family of troublemakers and thieves"

White faced and trembling
she said
" Character assassination, public humiliation, we're going to ruin your life"

Guys, go read about gang stalkers and what they do

Stalk me, harass me, taunt me torment me, hound me, troll me
sabotage everything I do, ruin my relationships, defame me to all
isolate me, threaten me, terrorize me, frame me, disrespect me
label me, **** my dogs, steal my cars twice, gaslight me, erase me,
void me, cancel me, do all the street theatre-ing you like

You thought I would run like most would,
you thought I would have been driven mad like most would have
you thought I would have taken my life like some would

No, thieves thrive on bullying and terrorizing people
I have deserved contempt for you and all in your control
I am not afraid of contemptible thieving scums
I have nothing but contempt for all of you and all you've done
I am not your victim....I am the one you fear.....

the plebs of nought

with the grapevine of wrath

bristling in prickling envious broth

expunging their madness of galling froth

boiling their red vulcanized heads in acid troughs

in the anodyne service of Mcafferty's gangsters payoffs

using recruited vapid socialist in nihilistic reenacted Romanovs

welcome to the debacle of thieves and extortionists' great GB rip-off

If I may
a word of advise to thieves and Extortionists
not that I know anything about your nefarious proclivities
as I do not fraternize with your sorts or attained a degree in Thiefology
However may I say
that as your stated intentions were to discredit, drive me paranoid
and subject me to your 'slow death' program
it would have helped you and your gang and Red cronies
if
your daughter Joanna did not directly verbally inform me
that I had picked up a bug
And your other various scumbags, hooligans, cronies, thugs and henchmen as well as those fooled and misled vigilantes
added from the onset, that
that my head was going to be done in
that you'll all put a million nits in my head
and a thousand worms in my ears
that my life was going to be made a living hell I would wish
I was dead
that character assassination, public humiliation was in operation  
that a vilified clone of my good-self has now been fabricated
that you are slinging so much mud at my stainless character
that you are blackening my name beyond redemption
that you will frustrate, isolate and make me a pariah
that you'll make certain I will never find anyone to trust or love ever again
and that
everything I say will be 'taken down and used against me'
SO PERHAPS
if in odious dastardly Narcissistic ARROGANCE
you had not voiced these all out to me gloatingly
who by the bye happens to be a trained journalist
with the journalistic abilities of Objectivity and Detachment
YOUR EVIL WICKED HEARTLESS INHUMANE DEVICES
would have given you the victim you so eagerly want
How can someone watching fooled, blinded, manipulated people
acting out silly ridiculous skits and street theatre performances
gas-lighting, running Fools errands and writing negative *****
the asinine bullying tactics of mobbing by crass mobsters and scums
One see all these as nothing but laughable, pathetic, pitiful, demeaning undignified nonsense by crass undignified lowlifes
SO THIEVES, ANARCHISTS, GANGSTERS and MOBSTERS
You may like to Now take it on-board
IF YOU WANT TO DRIVE SOMEONE PARANOID DO NOT TELL THEM FIRST and do not pick a journalist....
just saying!!!

With all the labour power
at their disposal
you'd imagine the man
would've toppled himself by now
or in the least gone gaga
I mean
take the recent honourable MP
caught up in the *** and ******* story
within a week
he's been admitted into a mad house
and here
we have an innocent blameless man
that has his marriage wrecked
his career wrecked
his pristine reputation wrecked
his good name soiled
and is subject to harassment
twenty-four seven
yet all he does
is tickle their catastrophes
and laughs at them
because thieving gangsters and extortionists
who gaslight unaware public into fake people's power
nonsense
are worthless narcissistic cowards and odious criminals

White thieves, Extortionists and Gangsters
declare me a grass for standing up to them
they said they were going to ruin and destroy me
I refused to be intimidated
Do your worst I replied I've done nothing wrong
Now I'm jobless and a pariah
isolated, harassed and hounded
made untouchable like a *****
they tell me gleefully
A criminal grass will be killed
A non criminal Grass will be made to **** himself
They said they'll make my life hell
We will wreck your mind with terrors and nightmares
make you a void of nothing but emotional pain and sorrow
each and every hour of each and every day
No help or support, no progress no joy
Just absolute miseries till you top yourself
We rule this manor they said, we have connections
No one will dare come to your aid or rescue
We are the gods and goddesses in this Nation
If anyone help you they become like you
we can find secrets to make offers they daren't refuse
We know the pedos, the secret thieves and the adulterers
We know the sins they all hide from their neighbours
from the Preachers to the Politicians to the man on the Square
And if by chance we can't find any dirt, we'll make it up
and cake you in mud like a Michelangelo's David
and make it stick, like we do with you, innocent stainless man
Your days are numbers, just go top yourself
In dire straits, alone and without support anywhere
No I say, I am not frighten of you ad stand in truth
I know and have someone more powerful than you all
He is called GOD.....come do your worst......