WHEN FILMING A FAKE AL-QAEDA
ZAINA ALSOUS
Remember these are the facts.*
Screams could be real screams, will be real
screams; the lamb and the butcher after
a car bomb. A mother pushing
returned son in a chair. This is a real chair.
Wheels on the army bus go round and round
Baghdad round and round Baltimore.
Classrooms sing smear
crayon letters to camouflage heroes. Heroes
saving us from real danger see: psychological
operation. What would we do without the bad men
in movies; the abdomen rush, a hydrant
turned open
when they get what they deserve.
Judges in powder wigs Plato lecturing
uses of propaganda for the good
polis in fine linen. Men in costume
tell us what is. Applaud
a woman sectioned
on stage fill a stranger’s lungs call
the drowning intelligence pull a rabbit
out of a hat. Watch how quickly
bombs transform into fireworks
through a screen.
Screams could be real screams, will be real
screams; the lamb and the butcher after
a car bomb. A mother pushing
returned son in a chair. This is a real chair.
Wheels on the army bus go round and round
Baghdad round and round Baltimore.
Classrooms sing smear
crayon letters to camouflage heroes. Heroes
saving us from real danger see: psychological
operation. What would we do without the bad men
in movies; the abdomen rush, a hydrant
turned open
when they get what they deserve.
Judges in powder wigs Plato lecturing
uses of propaganda for the good
polis in fine linen. Men in costume
tell us what is. Applaud
a woman sectioned
on stage fill a stranger’s lungs call
the drowning intelligence pull a rabbit
out of a hat. Watch how quickly
bombs transform into fireworks
through a screen.
*As reported by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, between 2007 and 2011 the Pentagon contracted with British PR firm Bell Pottinger, for over $500 million to produce fabricated news of terrorist attacks and fake al-Qaeda recruitment videos.
POEM ABOUT EVOLUTION
ZAINA ALSOUS
after Lucille Clifton
slice an orchid out
once open, place lips
in a watch or just chew
the lume spit out a tadpole shiny new
after extinction blame the weather
release,
attract flies I paint a room yellow, alone
I will paint a house one day too, keep
patting your belly blow your nose, I am not
the woman you are waiting
for, I am not the woman
NO
slice an orchid out
once open, place lips
in a watch or just chew
the lume spit out a tadpole shiny new
after extinction blame the weather
release,
attract flies I paint a room yellow, alone
I will paint a house one day too, keep
patting your belly blow your nose, I am not
the woman you are waiting
for, I am not the woman
NO
ZAINA ALSOUS is a poet daughter of Palestinian Muslim immigrants, and anti-racist activist currently residing in North Carolina. Her poems have appeared in The Offing, Word Riot, Human Equity through Art Journal and elsewhere.
