Death of Zarqawi announced in Baghdad
Death of Zarqawi announced in Washington
Two 500 pound bombs and his body is identified by fingerprints
Better dead than alive his consummate image is Reality TV
Key posts filled in Iraqi cabinet
World financial markets volcano like Indonesia
The United Arab Emirates sends relief
Wall along the Rio Grande
She moved to Los Angeles and speaks Farsi
Persian miniatures of the Prophet
Never puts her name on any list as long as she thinks they know what she thought
In a car at a busy market
Scares and tattoos
His portrait on a pike at every gate
Wall along the Jordan
Wall-Mart pays better than State Prison
Remember to send Alcatraz postcard to former coworker in Muscat
Chinese slums powered by green technology will seize what The Party becomes
And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife. You will fight against the Jews and you will kill them until even a stone would say. And when they had set her in the midst. Even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife. Come here. They say unto him. The adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. Muslim. Master. And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife. You and the Jews would fight against one another until a stone would say. This woman was taken in adultery. Even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife. Muslim. In the very act. The adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. Here is a Jew behind me. Now Moses in the law commanded us. And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife. Come and kill him. That such should be stoned. The adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. The Jews will fight against you and you will gain victory over them until the stone would say. This they said. And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife. Muslim. Tempting him. Even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife. Here is a Jew behind me. That they might have to accuse him. The adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. Kill him. But Jesus stooped down. And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife. The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say. And with his finger wrote on the ground. Even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife. Muslim. As though he heard them not. The adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. Or the servant of Allah. So when they continued asking him. And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife. There is a Jew behind me. He lifted up himself. Even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife. Come and kill him. And said unto them. The adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. But the tree Gharqad would not say. He that is without sin among you. And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife. For it is the tree of the Jews. Let him first cast a stone at her. The adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. You Muslims will fight with the Jews till some of them will hide behind stones. And again he stooped down. And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife. The stones will betray them saying. And wrote on the ground. Even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife. O Abdullah. And they which heard it. The adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. Slave of Allah. Being convicted by their own conscience. And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife. There is a Jew hiding behind me. Went out one by one. The adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. So kill him. Beginning at the eldest. And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife. The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews. Even unto the last. The adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. And the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. And Jesus was left alone. And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife. O Muslim. And the woman standing in the midst. Even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife. There is a Jew hiding behind me. When Jesus had lifted up himself. The adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. So kill him. And saw none but the woman. And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife. You will fight against the Jews and you will kill them until even a stone would say. He said unto her. Even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife. Come here. Woman. The adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. Muslim. Where are those thine accusers. And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife. There is a Jew hiding himself behind me. Hath no man condemned thee. Even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife. Kill him. She said. The adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. You and the Jews would fight against one another until a stone would say. No man. And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife. Muslim. Lord. Even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife. Here is a Jew behind me. And Jesus said unto her. The adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. Come and kill him. Neither do I condemn thee. And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife. The Jews will fight against you and you will gain victory over them until the stone would say. Go. Even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife. Muslim. And sin no more.
Not shining but speaking. Say:
I am no more than a human like you being
Inspired that I and my father in heaven are one. Or
Bring me the head of Gibran Khalil Gibran. Al-Mustafa will bear it disinterred
Through the streets and parks of Syria and Lebanon that bear his name.
Bring me the head of Ferlinghetti, even. Climbing down sometime during eternity
Is too much taut truth to be seen by obscene eyes.
Say: I am no more than a human like you...
I eat meat. I smell perfume. I enter women. Say: I am but a man...
Come into a woman and sins like autumn leaves will fall from the tree
...Where? Is woman the Black Stone? Or
Into our eyes like specks
Like beams?
Straw men fan flames.
If they only had a brain.
Kill me a cartoonist for I fear your mirror of my newspaper.
Mel Gibson filmed this flashback without dialogue from ground level with backlight:
A rock hard lesson little learned but "corrected" in the Quran's contra-
Diction that put Biblical stones back into the hands of those
Not without sin. Not that anybody ever put them down.
No shining example.
No beacon in the dark.
No fantasy of psychedelic berries
Waving a banner headline.
No photo- but phono-
Graphing God.
(Infinite coordinates with an axis that is everywhere at once? And this speaks?)
What sound light makes:
A human animal recounts falsehoods as if true ribaldry
In the three voices of amiable doom. This
Disordered speech is as cyclic as the Moon as it
Introduces the central Eucharist. Foot soldiers
Can't speak for themselves so fantoccini
Pantomime the unspeakable name of God. Pre-
Dict a drearily commonplace allusion
By denial. Summon to banish. Proclaim to curse. Inter-
Pret a feudal call to arms as divine inspiration like
Announcing in church the intended marriage of
Power deserted power forsaken with power
Recklessly unrestrained. Inhibitions surrendered. Goods
Smuggled from paradise by a flock of peacocks. Boon
Requested, prayers answered, the declared outlaw has
A bee in his bonnet to help his neighbor farmers and give
Extra service to his Lord. Noted rumor reports him to
Use auspicious words notoriously. Nonreferential speech sounds.
Sounds received. Sounds emitted. Symbols made of
The slightest utterance distinguishing meaning. News spreads.
Sacred compositions are sung in response, voiced
In return, sounded as answers. Voiceless. Slanderous. Brain damaging
Revelations like complex sonatas, harmonies of sound and color
That are disagreeable, discordant, and sometimes just sound bad.
Admit it. Affirm it openly. Disclose the sin. Make known the faith. Vow.
Speaking the speech of unknown meaning claiming not
The rights or attributes of God. But simply
Soothsay.
Say: ...
What?
My prophetess is Tiffany who appears as a bramble with brightly colored fruit.
She may be a phantom in disguise but she makes me a sign of a sash I wear in the buff.
When my life is an ocean she is my buoy that phosphoresces
When I am the buoy in her ocean phosphorescing.
Nothing is as it appears to be in this world that is nothing but appearances and
Witty sayings that prove nothing like I said this morning
"I want a Danish with my coffee, God damn it!"
Nicholas Karavatos is currently an Assistant Professor of Language & Literature at the American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Graduate of Humboldt State University and New College of California's Poetics Program. Poems have appeared in Blackbox, Cherry Bleeds, Country Activist, debt, Earth First! Radical Environmental Journal, Humboldt-Central American Solidarity Newsletter, Log, Minotaur, mirage[periodical], Paisley Moon, Prosodia, San Fernando Poetry Journal, Steelhead Special, Tight, Thieves Jargon, Travelling Poet, and Toyon.