Author:
Publication: Memri
Date: August 4, 2002
National Weekly Arab-American Paper
Publishes Poems: "Yes, I am a Terrorist" and 'Bush is an Ape'
Al-Watan is an Arabic-language "national
weekly Arab-American newspaper" published in Washington D.C., San Francisco,
Los Angeles, and New York, whose mission is to provide Arab and Muslim
Americans "with the most current, valuable, reliable, and informative news
on political, economic, social, cultural, and educational issues, which
concern the Arab-American community in their relations with the U.S. society
at large... through maintaining a positive relationship with the community...
coordinating efforts with Arab and Muslim American organizations to promote
the achievements of the community as well as empower them through active
involvement through political, media, social, and educational sectors."
Recently, Al-Watan published a series
of poems titled, "Yes I am a Terrorist" and, "The Ape," which was accompanied
by an image of President George W. Bush together with one of a howling
chimpanzee. The poem depicts Bush as an ape worshiped by some Arab leaders.
The following are the poems:
Yes, I Am A Terrorist
By Ahmad Matar(1)
The West cries in fear
When I make a toy from a matchbox
While they [the West] make a gallows
of my body
Using my nerves for rope.
The West panics when I announce
one day
That they have torn my galabia
While it is they who have urged
me to be ashamed of my culture
And to announce my joy and my utmost
delight
When they violate me.
The West is sorely grieved when
I worship
One God in the stillness of the
prayer niche(2)
While from the hair of their coattails(3)
and the dirt of their shoes
They knead a thousand idols that
they set atop the dung heaps made of the titled ones
So that I become their slave
And perform amongst them
The rituals of flies.
And he, they
Will beat me if I announce my refusal.
If I mention among them the fragrance
of flowers and grass
They would crucify me
Accusing me of terrorism!
Admirable are all the actions of
the West, and of its tails
As for me, as long as I am related
to freedom
Everything I do is considered Terrorism.
***
They have destroyed my world
Let them reap what they have sown.
If on my lips and in the cells
of my blood
The globalization of destruction
has borne fruit
Here I say it. I write, I draw
it
I imprint it upon the forehead
of the West with my wooden shoe:
Yes, I am a terrorist!
An earthquake has its reasons.
If you understand them
You will understand my reasons.
I shall not carry a pen, but my
claws
I shall not hone ideas, but my
teeth
I shall never be kind,
Until I see the law of the jungle
And all its adherents
Returning to the jungle.
Yes, I am a terrorist.
From now on, I advise any informer
who follows me barking
To clothe himself with a tank
Because I will smash his head in
If one day he knocks at my door.
The Ape
By Nasir Thabet(4)
An ape is ruling this world
From Washington to China.
It doesn't matter,
But
The Arabs make him the prophet
of the age.
Prostitution takes many forms.
* * *
The Arabs said: "He will soon become
a human being."
I said: "You can count years and
centuries."
* * *
They made me lose my temper when
they said:
"What a just man!"
I shouted like a madman:
"Does he even know the language
of reason and law?"
* * *
He [the ape] told them that day
he would deliver his great speech.
They sat [waiting] like children
for years in their chairs...
The accursed ape did not come.
They said: "It won't take long,
he has reasons that we don't know."
And [still] the accursed ape did
not come.
They left all their honor in the
toilet
And kept waiting for wisdom [to
issue] from the madman.
They abandoned their children,
and their subjects' predicament, and their Honor.
But the accursed ape did not come.
Days passed
They were heavier to bear than
Sharon.
He said: "The pressure on Zion
has intensified."
Is it conceivable that silly children
with stones will upset him.
While he [Sharon] is the poor wronged
one?
Death to the children of Palestine,
Death to you, all the Arabs of
the world.
You should be like mules kicking
with joy.
Your honor is cheaper than a can
of sardines.
O Arabs of the world,
When Sharon spits on you...
He is the wronged one,
And you - despite your feebleness
- you are "terrorists."
They said, with a stupid smile
over their mustaches:
"What shall we do with the spittle
of your poor, pampered Sharon?"
"Let it be a gift for the holiday,
a charity, some debt."
* * *
The [Arab] leaders have been asked:
"Your excellencies, what do you
think of the ape's speech?"
They tremble with joy:
"It is most wonderful in its honesty
and emotion,
" It is most eloquent in its vocabulary
and lofty style.
"Thanks to the accursed ape."
Endnotes:
(1) www.watan.com/Kalam43.htm,
July 24, 2002.
(2) In Arabic, mihrab - a prayer
niche in a mosque indicating the direction of Mecca
(3) That is, the pro-Western Arab
leaders.
(4) www.watan.com/adab7.htm, July
17, 2002.