Ode to Enemies
I love my enemies,
with Neruda’s affection.
I cherish insults,
epithets
sarcasm;
I pray,
to be mocked
— abused —
its my redemption.
I love
all enemies,
not only the weak
ones who hate
because they’re empty,
but the heinous
also,
their hyena acidity
it makes me cackle,
it tickles,
it gives me laughter.
Oh, I know,
this ode,
for my arrogance
it bodes
not very well,
but for the hole in my heart
the one born from sorrow
the one burrowed by Iblis
the one widened by woman,
enemies are a blessing;
like desert showers,
they congeal inside
like yeast and flour,
and they are heavy
and fat
and full
and filling — turning me
into a great big samosa
bursting with potatoes
with cilantro, into
a light-skinned masala
dosa
with black lentils steaming.
Apparently, you see,
the best remedy
for ennui
is to offer my enemies
a plate full of me.
Ode to Mullah Omar
There are,
in this prophetic faith,
many mutannabi’s* –
not the poet no –
I mean ‘pseudo-prophet.’
I mean the followers
of Musaylima*
the one called liar,
Islamic Judas,
the inverse of piety,
the detonators of Buddha.
More than wicked,
they are vain,
they pillage,
not just Bamiyan,
but peace,
Hazara maternity,
Pashto eternity,
and the Shia sharifs of Mazar*.
Flowers they trample,
with the boot of the brigade,
Kabul they capsize,
with the curve of the blade,
Ghaznavi* they invoke but
Ayaz* they impale.
And then when the voiceless
try and wriggle like worms,
the men are hung
up from the crane,
and the women are entombed
in billowing blue blots,
and the children are trained,
in kalashinkoff connivance,
all while the mullah
with one eye,
the mercenary mutanabbi,
Qandahar born,
Quetta based,
from the sufi’s shrine
steals Muhammad’s mantle,*
spreads it upon his shoulders,
and winks to Shaytan.
* Mutanabbi – The most accomplished Arab poet (10th century AD). The word means ‘pseudo-prophet.’
* Musaylima – a pretender prophet in Arabia. Nicknamed ‘the liar.’
* Mazar – Thousands of Shia were killed by the Taliban in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif.
* Mahmud Ghaznavi – The most heralded Afghan warrior.
* Ayaz – The boy lover of Mahmud.
* In 1996 Mullah Omar broke into a shrine in Afghanistan and stole a cloak reputed to belong to the Prophet Muhammad. He put it upon himself before a collection of religious scholars.