DEM: Deus Ex Machina / Don't Eat Me

DEM:

Deus Ex Machina (God in the Machine) Don't Eat Me

I have dem two friends:
The home phone is out side
The cel phone is not in hand

sometimes I use dem
sometimes I lift dem up
sometimes I turn dem off

But because it makes us angry
I never expect anything from dem

(by Fazeel Azeez Chauhan, 1999)

Denial

Denial

You have it all
At such a young age
A loving wife, a good job
A boy, a girl
Travelled the world
And moved to America.

Luck follows you everywhere
Maybe it's an ancestor's blessing
You've had it all too easy
And don't value the gifts.

Dark spots of the past
Haunt your conscience
Inside you feel undeserved
And want to tear it down.

So you're on the train
Racing toward death
By internal meltdown
The more you booze
The more you lose

(by Fazeel Azeez Chauhan, 1999)

Deadened

Deadend

Shirley: I got my degree five years ago. Did you go to Cal State?
Fazeel: Yea I studied Computer technology and Psychology there

Shirley: So are you Indian?
Fazeel: My parents are Indian. I was born in Pakistan, raised in Saudi Arabia and New Orleans

Shirley: Really?!!!! My grandma's Indian. She used to make goat curry and everything
Fazeel: That's great. I guess a lot of people have Indian blood in the Carribean

Shirley: You're Muslim right?
Fazeel: Yea. Ahamm (wondering what's next)

Shirley: My uncle's side of the family is all Muslim too
Fazeel: Wow! That's wonderful

Shirley: You know I wanted to ask you something. My husband gets a newsletter from his church...
Fazeel: He's African American too, right?

Shirley: Yes, we get this newsletter from our church which says that Muslims believe Black people have raisins for brains
Fazeel: (Silence. Shocking dismay). Hmm where should I start to say that it's not true...

- Based on a true incident in 1993, Los Angeles

Dead Silence

Dead Silence

Heavy Sunday night
Lonely city streets
Blank sidewalks
Locked doors
Empty cars

Pitch dark windows
Families fast asleep
Everybody's home
Except me in a car
After a party

Five scattered stars

A rumbling train
Keeps pushing on its way

Maybe she's listening to
Sontag's voice of hope
On his radio talk show

How far is the corner
Where she seeks me
Weaving dreams
Missing me
As I am
Appealing to fate

Fazeel Azeez Chauhan

8-16-99

Eyes Dead

Dead Eyes

Poor Indian women
Sifting thru trash
At a waste dump
Newly arrived shipments
Girls stunned
Looking at camera
Social
Shared water tap
Couple sleeping on street
Homeless kids
Child begging for rupees
Cold wind blows
Baby on handle bar
Of a bicycle

Children without hope
Prostitutes
Hardcore

sober
No blinking

It's lunch time
Miles of military planes
Parked at the offence base
Left the enemy
Exploded to ashes

From Jerusalem
To all corners of the burning ball
In

some sacred and some unholy spaces
Forgotten people again pray
Pleading for a better life

(by Fazeel Azeez Chauhan, 3-19-99)

Crane

Crane

you’re the kind

           gentle breeze

                      caressing my soul

                                 you’re the fresh

                                            drink of peace

                                                       fading my load

                                                                  you’re the cultivator

                                                                             bringing me hope

                                                                                        you’re the magnetic

                                                                                                   maestro

                                                                                                              tugging my road

                                                                                                                         you’re the fusion

                                                                                                              trigger

                                                                                                   giving me support

                                                                                        you’re the sheer

                                                                             pacemaker

                                                                  drumming my role

                                                       you’re the counter

                                            balance

                                 making me whole

                      you’re the auto

           pilot

drawing me home

(by Fazeel Azeez Chauhan, 10-15-98)

Concentration Cramp

Concentration Cramp

"Not in Europe but L.A.
Angry, howling dogs
Smashing against cages
Bold, majestic cats
Cute, fluffy kittens
Orphans awaiting adoption

No Nazi uniforms around
But somebody makes choices
Picking which pets to kill
In the name of space

Their dreadful crime:
Learned their multiplication tables
Far too well"

Says an Anglo American writer
He's choked up with emotion
With evident love and care
Protesting against cruelty to pets
But what about human orphans

 and poor people instead?

Fazeel Azeez Chauhan

4-19-99

Comfortable, Numb and Naive

Comfortably Numb

Get in touch with god
Turn the radio on

Get a house full of lies
Power the TV on

Read the bed time stories in the newspaper
Lull yourself into a hypnotic stupor

Switch to the music channels

Turn on your body, blindfold your soul

Tune into nine thousand outlets on cable

Get your head programmed

Watch the celebrities and wana-be's with envy
Hear the news anchors spinning and miseducating

Talk show pundits instigating and hating

Putting spells on us til we're oblivious

Drinking and roaring for sports

Is this like bread and circus for the Romans?

The last thing the fish notices

Is the water it's immersed in

(by Fazeel Azeez Chauhan, 1-29-97)

Wake up those sleepy eyes

COME ON BABY GET UP

Come on baby now get up and don't give up

Wake up those sleepy eyes and look inside

Ain't no safe place left for your conscience to hide

When will you realize what you've been denied

Time to run up the hill and leave the past behind

Shed this enslaved skin, this colonized mind

I'm tired of telling you all the stuff that's up

If we insist they will wipe out all of us

(by Fazeel Azeez Chauhan, 1996)

Another Brick at "the Wall"

Combi-Nation

History's a lucid guru

When she's embraced with honesty

No matter if you're a Hindu,

Muslim, Sikh or Christian

When you seek to criticize

You only see what's the difference

Your belief in Heaven and Hell

Your way of life and death

Is between you and the Lord

But do you rub your forehead

On the sacred ground

And don't let it penetrate the iron mask?

Cause if you can't love thy neighbor

You surely have learned nothing

Fifty years we've clashed

Piling up bombs and war planes

Yet searching for new tracks

Praying for the peace train

Kill your hate my friend

Or it will defeat and eat you

Wana be with you on the common ground

Cause I need you

So here we go, on a beat up bus

Cleanup the streets, side walks and stations

For a pilgrimage to our mutual roots

And progress to a collective destination

by Fazeel Azeez Chauhan

2-23-99

Who the hell are you

(Colored Man,) Who The Hell Are You!

Who the hell are you

We'll break your head in two

Freeze don't move

I'm watching you

Watch what you say

We'll make you pay

Who you think you are

You belong behind bars

Who the hell are you

We'll break your face in two

Beat you up straight

Turn your love to hate

Cut you into solitary

You're wrong you're crazy

You better conform

Don't question our bombs

Who the hell are you

We'll break your soul in two

You're not one of us

Don't you mess with us

Your kind we don't trust

Shut up all this fuss

Who the hell are you

We'll break your heart in two

Change your name, your hair, your face

Change your mind, your words, your faith

Don't you dare to care

That nonsense don't work here

Trade your friends for fear

Nobody feels you, nobody hears

Fazeel Azeez Chauhan

1997

American Melting Pot vs. Canadian Salad Bowl

Citizen Tame

I was dis-Card-ed

as a non-European

un-American

illegal alien

Til I was homogenized

naturalized, a citizen

and legally changed

my name to John

But still could not

get initiated

by the elders

into the American tribe

Now I've changed my name

back

and tattooed the U.S. flag

to my forehead

by Fazeel Azeez Chauhan

2005

Said So / Want To

CAUSE I WANT TO

Cause I want to
Because I said so

To sell me like Madonna
To be a rambo-like killer
Stomp at the earth so proud
Scream out my lies aloud

Cause I said so              Cause I want to

Get rich quick
Don't give a shit

Cause I said so              Cause I want to

I tell the truth
I'm a good girl
I love you I miss you
Stab you I kiss you

Cause I said so              Cause I want to

New jewels and cars
Ten men in a jar
Worshippers and lovers
Slaves and pushovers

Cause I said so              Cause I want to

I make the rules
Get lost you fool
You broke my law
Dishonored God

Cause I want to             Cause I said so

This land is mine
These people are mine
I am the best
Above all the rest

Cause I said so              Cause I want to

Wear no dress
Sun rises from the west
Don't touch me
Don't cross my path

Cause I said so              Cause I want to

Cut into pieces
These people this country
I don't trust you
I don't believe you

Cause I said so              Cause I want to

You know nothing die on
I am the queen I do no wrong
I own your pen, come fall on my sword
Immortals like me won't face the lord

Cause I said so
Cause I want to

(by Fazeel Azeez Chauhan, 1996)

Stop the Violence

Build Don't Destroy

I remember a time
When my people would not kill our own
We walked with love in our hearts
My country was not at war

Now those days are long gone
Why can't we just get along
Live and let live in peace
Kindness is strong fighting is weak

Build Don't Destroy
Stop the Violence
Build Don't Destroy
Stop Killing Our Own
Build Don't Destroy
Don't feed the fire

Build Don't Destroy
Give us peace in the streets
Peace in the streets
We want peace in the streets

My people, Dear people
Talk together, Don't kill each other
Those others have red blood and loved ones too
We're all the same they feel the pain like we do

Build Don't Destroy
Stop the violence
Build Don't Destroy
Stop killing our own
Build Don't Destroy
Don't feed the fire

Build Don't Destroy
Give us peace in the streets
Peace in the streets
We want peace in the streets

Build! Don't Destroy!
Stop The Violence!

by Fazeel Azeez Chauhan
1995

Bread and Water

Bread and Water

I am six, sitting on the floor
With a metal spoon in my hand
Stirring water in a 13 ounce steel glass
Feeling in detention or some reprimand

Clankty clankt clankt

Mom and Dad have left us
Have run off to a foreign land
The monthly check is very late
Four hungry children feel they are mistakes

Clankty clankt clankt

My beautiful, mysterious, artist sister
Takes care of us younger kids
She makes up songs for us to sing:

Clankty Clankt, Clankaty Clankt

Mix the water with the salt
Add red pepper, stir them all

Clankty Clankt, Clankaty Clankt
Clankty Clankt, Clankaty Clankt

Got no money, got no food
Bread and water taste real good

Clankty Clankt, Clankaty Clankt

Clankty Clankt, Clankaty Clankt

by Fazeel Azeez Chauhan

2-1-02

Opening the BottleNeck and Breaking the Bottle

Breaking the BottleNeck

Half a life spent addicted to feeling abused and down

Don't like staying up so a weak nation is drowned in a bottle

Five hundred years of colonization injected in our blood

Like taking the plague vaccine and AIDS mixed in a bottle

A thousand years of sermons from the religious dark ages

Can't grant our wishes this genie locked in a bottle

After six months of marriage we got used instead of intimate

You put me distant on your shelf closed in a bottle

With the broken shards of glass I cut my neck lace ropes

I'll never again be a a less-than or a victim confined in a bottle

by Fazeel Azeez Chauhan

7-22-05

Some Backward Bored of Dictators (directors) of Religious Organizations

To:  TheLeaders @ Muslim Organizations

(The kind who don't represent me)

Dear bored of dictators,

Who give awards to people

"On behalf of the Muslim community"

Where the only representatives

Present at your dinner ceremonies

Are doctors rubbing suits with millionaires

I must have missed the Islamic teaching

Which says I should spend $100 for a meal

My money will make you guys rich

While in your own backyard and parking lot

There are plenty of homeless and hungry

With $100 I could feed at least

A hundred people on skid row

Soup or peanut butter sandwiches

You don't answer my letters

I don't exist for you unless you want my money

In the name of religion, are you pimping me?

If you are a beacon of spirituality

Forget about me, question is:

What would Mohammed do?

by Fazeel Azeez Chauhan

5-3-05

Anarkisst

Anarkisst

He thinks he's better

Because of some skill

As an artist

He gives birth

To beautiful concepts and kids

But doesn't complete things

And his girlfriend

Who's a doctor

So lonely

She buys everything

Nurses people's wounds

Then broadcasts them

He's irresponsible

He forgets things

Now he's grown false wings

No empathy

No loyalty

No respect

For twenty two years

Off friendship

Fazeel Azeez Chauhan

5-6-00

Aero Straight and Narrow

Aero Straight and Narrow

You're possessed

By TV's empty fantasies

Hot air is everywhere

Your ears are filled

With parasitic words

You murder time

Among friends

I'm trying to be mindful

I'm trying to be me

And not get manipulated

My words are thoughtful

Based on tests and time

You may not value them now

Ignorance is ignoring the truth

Come get me

When you get tired

Of meaningless conversations

If I'm lucky enough

To still be here

Fazeel Azeez Chauhan

5-6-00

Absorption

Absorption

Outside a closed church

Damaged by the earthquake

I pass by him

Every afternoon around 2

The air of broken dreams

The marks of spilled guts

Stain the sidewalk

Around his escaping body

Facing the wall

Asleep on a cardboard

Next to a pillow

Of strange belongings

A thousand footsteps come and go

Ten thousand cars drive by

Does anybody really see

Or worry about him?

Why don't I ever say hello

Or ask how I can help?

Fazeel Azeez Chauhan

9-16-99