I am an old dog.
Fur thick from winter nights
Under stars, paws hard from
Scratching at the
Insides of doors.

Sad old eyes see through
Actions and words, reading
Intentions and tendencies.
Biting only to teach
Or carry.

I see the kicks behind your steps.
The nervous punches behind your
Patting.
Invade my space, and I'll make you
A cat person.

I don't have time for your
Self-pity and negative meditations.
Reincarnation has finally granted
Me this simple existence of
Non-illusion.

Picture a leash, and I'll
Never walk at your side.
Free from your two legged
Two-facedness; anything human is
Puppy to me.

Don't try to force me. Or own me.
You'll only fail. You'll always
Fail at taking the animal
Out of the
Animal.

I didn't come this far
To be tame.
I didn't work so hard at not
Needing, to end up begging for
A full bowl.

*******, you *******
******* for being ****** up and not being able to be fixed
and not being able to fix yourself
******* for representing all the unhealthy relationships in my life
(read: ALL the relationships in my life)
******* for your two-facedness, for the things that were ****** up then,
for the things that are ****** up now and for
you pretending that it isn’t this way
pretending to be holding the truth
be speaking the truth
be slurring the truth
you are unknowing of the truth
I am not knowing of what’s true
and good,
but you are not it.

So leave, leave, leave, and take her with you,
and pretend as if you have me in your heart
but forget me. Please don’t speak to me.
And don’t cry to me.

And at some point, eat. And at some point, sleep.
Between the meaningless bouts of *******, *******, *******,
and pretending to be finding the things
you find meaningful
You haven’t thought about them in a while, have you

I’m angry at you and I’m angrier at myself
But at least I’m proud of myself
Because whatever hurts me now makes me grow
I can handle being alone and learn independence, and it will
be my weapon against you and everyone like you.

I don’t love you. I don’t know what that kind of love is and I hope to not find it for a while.

Raise our God consciousness
Raise our “Allah is greater than.” “Allah is more important than.” “Allah is more significant.”
Raise our minds
Raise our confidence
Raise our love for the oppressed
Raise our voices
Raise our hands
Raise our prayers
Raise our grassroots efforts…talking to ordinary people
Raise our signs
Raise our slogans
Raise our bravery
Raise our solidarity
Raise our red, black, white, and green
Raise our love and our cries for our human brothers and sisters
Raise our commitment to the martyrs
Raise our commitment to the grieving families
Raise the greed out of them
Raise the racist out of them
Raise the arrogance out of them
Raise the Netanyahu caricature devil looking ears out of them
Raise the butchers out of them
Raise the terrorists out of them
Raise the grotesque torturers out of them
Raise the chumps out of them
Raise the monsters out of them
Raise the two-facedness out of them
Raise the facade out of them
Raise the raids out of them
Raise the bomb strikes out of them
Raise the nuclear weapons out of them
Raise the baby, children, women, and men murderers out of them
Raise the assassinators of grandmothers, grandfathers, mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, wives, husbands, and more out of them
RAISE THE VICTIMIZED, TYRANNIZED, HEGEMONIZED, BROWBEATEN, DOWNTRODDEN, MASSACRED, WE WILL NOT GIVE UP, PALESTINIANS’ FREEDOM OUT OF THEM

by: Najwa Kareem

Do you see my addiction, God?
Do you see me turning my back on you?
Do you see my double facedness?
Do you see through my lies?
I want to stop, God.
Please let me stop.
I want to be Your image.
All I have is my trust that You love me;
Even that is not mine, but a gift from You.
Let me overcome this.

WHAT THE CAT DON'T WANT TO HEAR
                               THE CAT DON'T HEAR

(TO.THE. ONLIE. BEGETTER. OF.THESE. INSVING. LINES.  Mr. A.S.J. ALL. HAPPINESS. AND. THAT. ETERNITIE. PROMISED.)

The chair liked the room
it was living in.

The day before
it was living in a shop.

Only one
of many such chairs.

Now
it had its own room.

Indeed it was
the only chair there.

It even had
its own desk.

Yet the desk was full
of its own self importance

and had only indulged
in the usual polite conversation

about how far or near
one should be to it.

The chair was rather proud of
THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING

that lay open upon it
at page 144.

The desk was profoundly
jealous of it

whereas the chair
actually took pleasure

in the mere fact of
its mistress's posterior.

A mirror slightly to the side
allowed the chair to look out

upon a garden
who talked continuously

about the weather.

A lawn ran down
to a flint-faced wall

and beyond the wall's
flint facedness

lived
( so the chair believed )

the World.

The chair
( even if it had to say so itself )

and human voices
agreed with its opinion

that it looked
extremely elegant.

The chair enjoyed
being a chair.

The only thing that irked
was the cat

whose habit
it was

to doze upon it
when the humans left the room.

"Shoo...shoo!"
the chair cried out

in deep despair
but the cat

either did not
speak

or
pretended not to

understand

what was said
to it.

I took you in
We laughed, got drunk, smoked some stuff that was wrong
Went gigging
Stole ***** that we shouldn't have been swigging
You dragged on some **** of a ten pack of stolen ciggies

You used me but I overlooked this at the time
Maybe I used you as well but this worked out just fine
A free ticket to the singer of your choice
Friend or carer, you wanted my company but not for their voice
You had no money but I didn't mind helping you out
As I never asked for a dime in return, I could have gone to a tout

So now...
It's thrown back in my face from a man with no cares
He swindles a friend he's known for over 20 years
Lives life like a failed rockstar as some new hearts he'll now tear

Good luck to those who he'll now push from his window sill
As two-facedness is a very bitter pill
He'll never learn as failure is an option we look back in hindsight
Looking over the edge from these choices
But from from how many lies and to fall from what height

Thinking back it was everyone else who has always paid
So that's it now my once dear friend
Time to call it a day

JJB

WHAT THE CAT DON'T WANT TO HEAR
              THE CAT DON'T HEAR

(TO.THE. ONLIE. BEGETTER. OF.THESE. INSVING. LINES.  Mr. A.S.J. ALL. HAPPINESS. AND. THAT. ETERNITIE. PROMISED.)

the chair
liked the room
it was living in

the day before
it was living
in a shop

only one
of many
such chairs

now
it had
its own room

indeed it was
the only chair there
it even had its own desk

yet the desk was full
of its own
self importance

and had only indulged
in the usual
polite conversation

about how far
or near
one should be to it

the chair was rather proud of
THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING
that lay open upon it at page 144

the desk was profoundly
jealous of it
whereas the chair

actually took pleasure
in the mere fact of
its mistress's posterior

a mirror slightly
to the side
allowed the chair to look out

upon a garden
who talked continuously
about the weather

a lawn ran down
to a flint-faced wall and
beyond the wall's flint facedness

lived
( so the chair believed )
- the World

the chair
( even if it had to
say so itself )

and human voices
agreed with its opinion that
looked extremely elegant

the chair
enjoyed
being a chair

the only thing that irked
was the cat
whose habit it was

to doze upon it
when the humans
left the room

"Shoo...shoo!"
the chair cried out
in deep despair

but the cat
either did not
speak

or
pretended
not to

understand
what was said
to it