OR

Running…

Through crowded halls that seem endless

They stretch as you change course every three steps trying to pass these crowds

As if they want to hold you down where you stand

If we could see emotions in the air we would become destitute of vision

We would suffocate if we breathe and these halls would swallow our existence

When we are not quite dead inside

For there was laughter and crying

There was happiness and grief

There was peace there was anger

There was love…

Every three steps…

Will I be there on time?

Waiting…

I sat on the freezing floor of the endless hall staring at the crowd

Death is a beeping bed that comes and goes

The clouds of emotions darkened

For the smoke of the lit cigarettes triggered a storm

Its lightening hit strong targeting the hearts of the crowds

Until they all fell on the freezing floor

Waiting…

Níngbō Sentiment

Pinwheels from Wanda Plaza,

Love, twirled as wind blew.

Wind I started here. Couldn’t you hear?

(Sighs loud clear, Map-lines forbade proximity,

Prejudiced laws restricted affinity.)

…

Twirls in Pinwheels from Wanda Plaza,

Love, I send you, far oversea.

“Think what they have meant to me –

Life and Hope and Love and You”

…

Twirls in Pinwheels from Wanda Plaza,

To my loved ones away across the land

“These I send in memory

Knowing you will understand.”

__________________________________________________________________________

• Inspired by “Villanelle” poem written by Roland Leighton.

Road Trip

Close your eyes and take my hand

See the sun hugging the land

Be my companion let’s go there

For we shall have a road to share

I long for something I hardly know

To a place I dreamed of we shall go

 

I saw the beach with golden sand

We played music your favorite band

I smelled the breeze I heard the wind

It whispered Be free, don’t ever bend

I smiled I teared I felt the warmth

I became aware of freedom’s worth

Where the sun hugs the land

That’s where we’ll go

Where the sun hugs the land

The place people don’t know

Clockwork

Time passes

Today like yesterday

And everyday

Some dive within repetitive days

Clockwork.

Routine is an octopus of eight arms

It strangles men lost in the deep

Some have lost their will to fight

Between eight arms they are still

But not quite dead inside

Clockwork.

And some won’t take an easy road

Their heartbeats sparkle and twinkle

Lighting up the deep dark time

With flashes of hope and colours of laughter

With acts of kindness and kisses of love

They scare the octopus away and rise

And breathe the air of joy

Before their next dive

Clockwork.

The Mad Poet

In my dark room I lie in bed

There are different noises in my head.

They break the silence of the first a.m. hours

I hold my breath like little kids

The noises get louder

They sound like people in a market

Cars on a highway

An annoying whistle

I call silence “Come back…” and wait

Like little kids I spell it in my mind

S…I…L…E…N…C…E

The noises stop for a fraction of a second

But they come back in the same patterns

I wonder in question

Is it the curse of the smart? 

Is it the burden of the kind?

Or is it just another mad poet?

I catch my breath. 

Anger

This is no poetry of themes

These are perverted schemes

Just words that weren’t at rest

They fell from a cut in the poet’s chest

The poet screamed Oh! Wounds of cold

But winter cried It’s not me, hold

Ask the other poet there yelling

Ask the little boy there spelling

This cold is not of winters

Your world has become one of sprinters

The ice that cut your chest is not my doing

It’s the winds of cold human hearts blowing

I see your anger poet and I pray

For men to be humans one day.

The Curse of Mei You

I’ve never been a vegetarian or a vegan, I like meat, but as a Muslim man in Ningbo, I decided not to eat meat that wasn’t halal, (although there are exceptions to the rule), which made ” MeiYou ” one of the first words I had to learn, it literally means ” doesn’t have “, so I could ask for food with no meat. There are other important words to learn before you go to China, like water and things you need to survive!

But MeiYou is the most common word you will hear in China if  you are a stranger…

Asking for directions.

I was trying to go to the mall to buy a cup and a plate for my appartment. One of the other foreign teachers told me I had to take any bus that starts with the numbers 33  for 2 stops and I would find the big supermarket “Vanguard”. 2 bus stops later, there was nothing but a bus stand and an old lady.

“Ni hao! I am trying to find V A  N G U A R D…” I ,hopefully, articulated. But the lady mumbled something and left. She said many Chinese words but I only knew “MeiYou“. I crossed the street and took the bus back to school, where my appartment was, only to find Vanguard was 1 stop away not 2. Damn it Kevin! I had already missed the stop so I decided to go another day. When my friend asked me about the plate,  I told her “MeiYou“.

My trainers are ruined.

I did a lot of walking in the first couple of weeks and it is always raining in tropical Ningbo. I had ruined the 2 pairs of shoes I had brought with me and I had to get good shoes to withstand the showers and the walking. I went to the mall with my friend. 

“Ni hao! Do you have this in my size?” I said holding the shoe in one hand and pointing at myself with the other.

The shopping assistant laughed and called the other shopping assistants in the shop. After a lot of Chinese and giggles between them. She started talking to us in Chinese.

“Ting bu dong” I said waving my hand a little.  Ting bu dong means I am listening but I can’t understand. It’s an easy way to make people know that you don’t speak Chinese. 

“Ahahaha, ting bu dong …. (more fast Chinese)” she said.

“YES! Ting bu dong hehe!”

She took out her phone and typed something then she showed me. She had typed CHINESE CHARACTERS!

I tried to show her the size on the shoe then I typed 45… the shopping assistant again laughed so hard and shouted “45. MEIYOU AHAHAHA..”

2 Malls and over 10 shops later, I got new shoes.

Where is your homework?

My students were the funniest people I met in China. They were very smart and we managed to communicate in spite of the language barrier. I rarely gave out homework but when I did, it was so hard not to burst out of laughing in the middle of the classroom when the class clown said “MeiYou“.

The list goes on and on, it can be frustrating at times but if you MeiYou the local people back or MeiYou your boss like I did when she asked us to dance to “Back it Up” in the cultural festival, you will survive. You can approach other foreigners and start a conversation by a MeiYou joke. Like a curse, the word haunts you in the streets of the crowded, polluted and noisy yet loved so dearly, Ningbo. 

I Am Sorry

I am sorry old men in their offices decide
Their economies are worth children’s lives
I am sorry hyenas were taught to hate

Unluckily home was on their plate
I am sorry, “habibi” you are left alone to fight

I am sorry their darkness took your light
I cover my eyes with denial’s hands

But reality is brute she took a stand
She decided the color of walls in your room
Red it shall be and it won’t dry soon
Like you my brother I am sorry to see

Everything that’s come to be
My dear brother my heart aches

My dear brother, I am sorry…
*For the children in Aleppo,

And children affected by war around the world.

A Nightmare Wake-up

It is the strangest of feelings, for a dream is as powerful as it is fragile.

Without it’s mysteries, it cannot survive.

His mind freezes in wonder and in question.

Even the fine sound of his breath is quite heard over his thoughts.

Darkness takes him while beams of life light surrounds him.

He is surprised by it’s oddness, for it is as alien in nature as human beings.

He is now young with an aging soul.

Out of time, he strays.

Yet only time brings him back.

He cannot wield it.

It has no why.

It has no memory.

It has no proof.

It is the strangest of feelings…

Anxiety

Blood rushes through swollen veins.

Thoughts of countless scenarios drain.

Heavy air.

He cannot sleep.

He is tired.

He is at unease.

He has lost control…