The One-Word Poem: Rise/Fall

Rise

Stand

Smile

Euphoria

Power

Light

Yellow

Free

Happy

Strong

Eyes

Up

Blue

Skies

Breathe

Air

Clear

Calm

Wait

Weight

Panic

Smoke

Choke

Skies

Dark

Eyes

Down

Weak

Sad

Captive

Black

Heavy

Impotence

Woe

Quiet

Sit

Fall.

Suicide Romantics

Ill take you down to Japan,

To the forest that breathes.

We’ll build necklaces with broken nooses

We’ll build homes out of abandoned tents

And maybe even use the broken bones for fire.

Decorate a skull with roses.

And Let’s not think about tomorrow.

Or the day after it.

Lets see what we could do

In the suicide forest

Built for me and you.

Then at night

When it is dark

And the green turns black

And we count to ten

And you wrap a noose around your neck

And I swallow a couple of hundred

Sweet bullets

We will think about tomorrow.

Your noose a necklace.

Our tent a home.

Our bones coal

Our skulls décor.

RANT: Problems with Khaleeji Soap Operas.

My mom is currently watching this gulf-soap-opera and I am watching it with her. Nothing has fueled my hatred for Arabic media more than these ghastly TV shows, and my reason is not related to anything religious, cultural, or traditional, but rather something a little more regional.

They say that they are tackling the most prevalent of problems in the region, like drugs, polygamy, among others. But the thing is, a lot of these wonderful TV shows present the problem without really presenting the solution. So, technically, a lot of these TV shows that the lot of you obsess over in the holy month of Ramadan, are using the above statement as an excuse.

Another problem I have with these TV shows is the way women are portrayed. Rarely do you find a character with potency and superiority—if you did, she, for some ambiguous reason, would be the enemy. Once again, the woman, in the Arab world, is degraded.

 The woman is also always dressed up, which is annoying. Last time I checked, none of the Arab girls that I know spend their mornings in a Moroccan dress with a perfect cat eye and a pair of Jimmy Choos.

 How are they ‘tackling the most prevalent of problems’ in the region, if they cant even manage to be realistic?

Basically, what I’m trying to say is that there are a lot of problems in the region that are so much bigger than polygamy, drug addiction—and falling off the stairs, then managing to get cancer. Stop being backwards.

In my Funeral

In my funeral,

I do not want to be mourned.

I do not want you to wipe your tears

Or be heavy with the weight of

All the words untold;

All the moments forgotten;

All the grudges dying;

In my funeral,

I want to have roses.

When you wrap me in my cloth,

(I want my cloth to be in gold)

I want to be in roses--

Without their thorns—

I want there to be roses

Around your necks;

Your houses;

Your hair—

In my funeral,

I would also like

A dress code:

Bright colors, only.

Yellows; Greens;

Pinks; Oranges:

In my funeral—

In my celebration

Remember all the times

I was high; All the times

We laughed; All the times

We cried; All the times;

You let me make this world

A tad bit better.

And when I marry the ground;

Say your prayers with a smile;

Let me hug my soil;

Turn the page.

One day, we will meet again.

On that day, we will be in Gold.

We will wear roses—

Without their thorns—

How to Hug Yourself.

This is going to be one of those cheesy little proses that you find everywhere—except you wont really find this everywhere, I guess. Anyway. I want to talk about internal hugs. This is an incredibly horrible thesis statement and my literature professor would probably want to verbally slap me across the face right now (because he’s a man and a physical slap is haram) and I would totally deserve it.

Anyway.

I believe in internal hugs. Which is silly. Considering the fact that I hate physical contact and that physical contact makes me feel awkward, because I am awkward and rigid by nature. For some reason. But, I am starting to fall for my internal core. The one that I thought had been eating me alive. It really wasn’t. It was actually doing the opposite. It was keeping me alive, and I was the cannibal. Turns out I was eating my own self. I was kind of, killing myself. And it was horrifying. It was so horrifying that it actually became a norm for me. Yes. Self-hatred had become a norm for me. I felt awkward complimenting myself; I felt weird telling myself that maybe I don’t look that bad; I felt awkward standing in a crowd. And I drowned myself in my own sea that I had fashioned for that sole purpose.

Everything was dark, and I wasn’t really lost—I was in my norm. I made myself believe that this all was completely fine and that this is okay, when it’s not. It’s not. Hurting yourself is not okay. Damaging your own self, is not okay—and how I wish I could go back in time, and just ask myself to stop. To stop hating my own flesh, to stop accepting that nagging pain that I had grown so used to, to just stop. Breathe. To not be afraid to just kind of maybe love myself, and that it’s okay to say that I’m beautiful, and wonderful, and smart, and capable, and that I can be stronger than the mountains and thicker than the roots of thousand year old trees.

I don’t want to be ashamed of myself. I don’t want to feel worthless, because God, trust me, it is the worst feeling in the world. I don’t want to feel unaccepted. I don’t want to feel less. I just don’t. I’m tired.

I choose to be happy. I choose to give myself one, big fat, internal bear hug. And you do too.