Long Lebanese Poems

The Story
by Kamal Nasser
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I will tell you a story ...
a story that lived in the dreams of my people,
a story that comes from the world of tents.
It is a story...

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PREAMBLE
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What I witnessed on October 7 was indefensible. Just to be clear, Hamas are not militants or freedom fighters as many in the mainstream media would have you believe - they are terrorists. Israel is...

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the question is not
“if,” but when the Israeli government decides to
attack Iran,
just what do you think you’ll be doing?

will you be home watching afternoon television,
maybe “The Talk,” or “Anderson Cooper,”
guzzling down Coca-Cola & stuffing yourself...

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[21/09/2015 9:18:41 PM] P.c: while i stand on this stage
talking to you and the rest of the race
you see the cloths you wear
the places you live
the friends you have
the parents who love you all
while we...

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A weird feeling is crawling up and down in my chest and it leaves me grasping for breath, it crawls like a man walking along a corridor in heavy boots and sacks mounted on his...

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Young Eyes
The ten year old child sat by the water. They saw what was happening and it wasn't good. Affecting them greatly, bringing nightmares and nasty flashbacks. Things their young mind struggled to comprehend. Seeing...

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You remind me of sleep.
A nap on the cool tile
That makes the heat rush
Out of my cheeks
In all shades of 
Red and pink.

You remind me of rest.

You remind me of the feel of scented blankets.
Rough...

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Everything around me is still
The soft lights ward off the cold
My worried heart is unsettled
Every minute makes me old

Time seems to drag on and on
Not sure I can take much more
I’m waiting for my angel
to...

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He dresses as the fool
But does he fool you?
In clothes of rent
Torn twisted and bent

He drinks to excess
His voice is loud
He spouts obscenities
But he runs like the wind

Catch, me if you can, he shouts
The maze...

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On December 7, 2013 a bomb blast killed former Lebanese Minister, Mohammad Chatah and several others. Less than an hour ago, another bomb blast took place in the Dahieh area in Beirut. My husband is...

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Exhiliration comes (thanks dad)

Cassius Clay in his day,
quick as lightning he did thunder,
watch him fight,
an awesome sight,
Great Boxer, 
one man wonder.

At 4 I had a bully sure 
Murphy was me a slapping.
Dad taught me fisticuffs...

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War at Kurukshetra (Bharat) was great,
Where human and divine face to face met;
Arjuna and Pandavas won the tough war,
Arrogant powers of Gauravas brunt bore;
Could this be compared to Goliath-David?
Where humility and faith in God got...

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In the bleached whitish sky
I am flying on a bellied pelican,
contemplating from above
a pastoral landscape
and I’m writing these lines.

Below are small people
on the slopes of a small hill
in the small groves
are making small love.
Unaware of...

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It was hot yesterday. How hot was it you ask?
It was so hot outside that I'd rather be in class doing math,
It was so hot when I heard a joke that was funny I actually...

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Carlos Ghosn makes a daring escape
It has now become Japan vs Lebanon 

CEO had to literally think- Out of Box
This whodunnit as good as Mr Bond
In Japan he was in house arrest
Darling of Lebanese masses
A...

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A great gaggle of phony truths on Facebook!
But never our God do we read!
For as you know, pornographic words fill Rap 
and movie screens.
We get off on such immoral chicanery!

God was removed from a convention...

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Farewell to Mustafa Bad reddine

We salute you
Murderer of humanity
You have received your just rewards
Zulfiqar has sliced you to pieces
Mohamed spits on your body parts
On examination they saw
The sum of the parts has no heart
You tried...

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Life Partner!


Tonight I'm your
life partner
Now my heart is all
yours
Let me sleep in your
arms
I want to be happy
with you


You are my rose and
I want to smell you
Fear for you and
care for you
Now I can change
your name
"My...

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(I)
We extend our palms
our fingers tips
approach the
shadowed altar
eagerly anticipating
the opulent outpour

(II)
As the Holy Spirit
courses through
our tainted goblets
we shed transgression's
slithering veneer
digging ourselves
out of covetous morass

(III)
The saffron silk veil
slips and lo!
We stand stripped
clean of all externalities,
as unvarnished...

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Mary Jane aka ganja, grass, marijuana and a host of other names.

Serenity is yours to gain
being led in dance to fairyland
swing waltz with Mary Jane

Sapped by undue stress and strain 
tango’s for two yet ‘lone...

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We were supposed to be discovered
By Columbus in Fourteen-ninety-eight,
But we had the Arawaks and Caribs
Already there, so Columbus was late.


We are a Cosmopolitan Nation
Of every color, creed, and race,
Call ourselves a Callaloo people
With all the...

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A cosmic river
of boomerang bullets
fired decades ago ripping through
Indian flesh Black bodies 
Vietnamese heads
Lebanese souls and millions more
of assorted uncounted Others each
little lead blob morphing through
ancient mosques and bible belts
Algerian dead ends in Mexican villages...

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