By: Jehangir Saleh
Written: March 12, 2002
I am frightened of your completeness
Frightened for scar-less purple lesbian children
Playing the sparkly tint of charcoal
In them I reform you
Mighty
Sweetly like sugar canes
I am porridge
With out blueberry honey
I’ve quivered in many corners
Like
Unsure if your seams are sown
This Is All I Know
By: Jehangir Saleh
Written: February 14, 2002
I will reveal myself
To the bare moon
And make my salt
Where the land embraces
The sea
I will sleep
Aside the holy books
Their covers torn –
Pressed as one,
Reveal a single revelation
I will weep rosewater
And sip my tears
I will curdle myself
In hope
And hope
In this moment
I am a single
Drop of fluid
Gently tortured
By the sea
Cheryl’s Cup
By: Jehangir Saleh
Written: February 12, 2002
Delicoius –
The bitter murk of me.
A warm projection, bold, strong, and…
True?
Truly, hopeless.
Overly creamed, watered,
Flat, flushed –
Free! samples on Saturdays.
Sweetly
Secretly bitter.
A secretive blend of…
Of.
Mmm…
Delicious me.
Jehangir Saleh
This Is A Good Poem
By: Jehangir Saleh
Written: February 8, 2002
He wraps himself
Draped in warm comfort of
Orange velvet
In the evening he finds
Sunshine
Sleeping as the collection plate passes
As the holy words of Jesus
Bless the air
Make it a mosque
– velvet becomes a sari
He is the most blessed of all followers
The Journey
By Jehangir Saleh
Written: January 17, 2002
I am following the right path
To my sovereign Lord
In the warm shadows beneath the high trees
In the comfort of the sweet air
Above, the green leaves drip down
Sunshine
I am blessed
And begin my journey
Length and dark will
Test my devotion
And bounds will break
With the love of my Lord
I must not stray
For on this path
I take my Mirage1
Accompanied by sparrows
And chipmunks
The trees bow
And the robins sing
The praise
Of their creator
Each step is new
Fulfilling
Closer to harmony
Pausing, resting
Feeling the earth tug
At my soul
Letting the breeze
Whisper in my ear
I continue my path
Collecting the delicate drops of sunshine
Guided by the flowing breeze
Whose breath
Is whispering praises
[1] The journey Prophet Mohammed took through the seven heavens to meet with Allah.
Oh devote one
You pace with hunger
For you Lord
Your devotion
Will usher you in the
Blessed abode
I know
Of your longing,
Intoxicated with
Love
As the wind inhales
The sun begins to hide
Your path seems infinite
Each step will become
Oppressive
Dark nights
Reveal plagues
And demons
Who will not rest
Aside you
To the West
May you also
Find your Lord
With ease —
A burden- less path
Where dark remains friends
With Day
Sun is straining
Through the top leaves
Sparrows in still
Facing the right path
As I ponder the West
The path parts
And away from
Mecca2 I turn
Night floods the forest
Along with dense darkness
That knows not of
Its true companion, Day
[2] Muslims pray toward Mecca; they pray toward the East.
Each dawn
Light must push through
The tree tops
Dusting off on
Owls and ravens
Who raped the
Last sparrow journeying
The West path
Light shortens as
The dark grows
I travel through
Their violent divorce —
Dark must be beating Day
Three more revolutions
Of the world
Dries me out
Dehydration consumes
My canteen
The wind seems
Arid, hungry
My thirst pokes
Like a thistle
As the path turns
To a poisoned pond
I pause
And ponder
Feeling swirls
Of building temptation
The wind hums
Praise and prayers
And the swirling
Subsides
As I attempt
Ignorance
My thirst begs
The path narrows
To a deeper part of the forest
All shadows begin to cool
The sunrays are forbidden
By the leaves that grow cover
I am below the blessed
Where
Dark has defeated light
In piercing circles, swarms the wind
Whispers now become screams
Rattling my ears
Owls and ravens watch
Perched on branches
Of trees
Whose leaves have been desolated
In sacrifice
The path and I weaken
No further can I travel
I pause for an unsettled rest
Shielded by jagged
Knives of rock
Is a blue stream of
Flowing beauty
Her Liquids are poisonous
But for the deserts
I thirst
And so I drink.
I peer at myself
Rippled in the waves
That imitate
Flaunting my anguish
Back at me
I continue
Poisoned
A budding insanity
Lingers
Cured only by
The hand of
My lord
I begin to beg
Of the wind
To whisper me
The virgin distance
Of my journey
So I may hope
Once again
In silence
I receive my answer
Now
I am bothered not
By the owls and ravens
That perch upon
The crosses
Of rough tree bark —
In blindness
My dark is thicker
Than night
The wind begins
To blow
And I get up
To follow
Knowing
That I will forever
Step away from my lord
Only to fall on
The Day of Judgement3
[3] The Day when mankind meets their creator. Depending upon Islamic sect, The Day of Judgement can be individual or one where mankind as a whole is called upon by Allah.
The Shrink And Serial Killer
By: Jehangir Saleh
Written: December 31, 2001
Elves and dwarfs and midget’s,
In pink, black and blue
Have square pockets that house tiny little keys
Which unlock of large dorms
Gaining access to the deepest furrows
Of my mind
Through the trillions of tiny but detailed staircases
Being painted on by Dali, and Rousseau
Among the invisible bullets
And the multiple stab wounds
Which have not yet made their mark
He searches for reason
Reason which is chained up and gagged
In the deepest and darkest corner
The keys he uses to open the chains
Are all the wrong ones
Their sizes too big, too small
And only I know the perfect dimensions
Piles of keys, stacks of questions
Like a chipmunk at a nutshell
He attempts to pry me open
Thinking he knows something
That I don’t
A Tree In The Winter
For Julia
By: Jehangir Saleh
Written: December 20, 2001
Dark has finally killed light,
warmth has surrendered to bitter cold.
A cannibalistic wind prepares for a feast,
all light is now revelatory.
Enlightenment pours down,
raining on outstretched wooden fingers.
Branches are pointed towards the heavens,
leaves have been desolated in sacrifice.
The piercing feeling of frost nipping at naked bark,
the unbearable teeth of the wind.
I am courageous enough to endure such pain,
I am strong enough to persist.
Patiently waiting for light to over take dark,
and cold to submit to the wishes of warmth.
Waiting for the wind to satisfy its hunger,
and the light to interpret its own relations.
Jehangir Saleh
An Ode To The Job An Ode
By: Jehangir Saleh
Written: November 21, 2001
Worms are soldiers
Carbonation is philosophical dilemma
God remains God
Orgasmic interest is aroused
In crayons, hyphens and peanut butter
Royalty is raised and punished
Slaves are beaten and awarded
The lifetimes of losers
Plummet to new heights
The moral of my ode is this:
All the classical Greek poetry in the
Universe can’t liberate road kill
My ode can.
Our World
By: Jehangir Saleh
Written: November 15, 2001
I step outside into the open world
Wind streaking through my hair
Tiny flowers blossoming with their beauty
As I think to myself
What world do I live in?
Our world is a magnificient place to live
It is like a pearl in a fragile shell
Blue skies above
The world is at peace
Time goes by
People get older
New things happen to all
New people are born,
Each an individual
More time goes by
Each person has a soul
One thing will stay the same
Every one will eventually leave this world.
Ode To A Box Of Crayons
By: Jehangir Saleh
Written: November 7, 2001
My sister Jasmine brought me
A box
Of sticky crayons
Which she melted herself
With her tiny hands of innocence
Eight crayons of adhesive,
A child’s crazy glue
I let them drop to the floor
As if being caught
For narcotics possession
The evidence staining
My hands
Destructive crayons,
Defecating on the
Carpet
Tarnishing its white
Purity
An oil slick
In a perfect sea
Dogmatic crayons,
Spilling out my
Murky existence
The colors are sharp
Truthful
Prophetic
They whisper to me
Revelations of deep
Red hate
I stare
They stare back
The moral
Of my ode is this:
Evil lurks within
Colors
When it is a matter
Of a box of crayons
Melting
Innocence is stained
In Red