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)

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

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