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