getting the news from poems — Tarek Chemaly, 2009

o-----////()/---[getting the news from poems]------(| Tarek Chemaly · 2009 |)------¬

getting the news from poems, Tarek Chemaly, 2009. 187 poems written in Beirut and elsewhere between 2003 and 2008, in the order and sections of the book. Layout: Mike Awad. \_read as a book

Exodus 2003

4		A confession, a concession There’s more to life than waiting for death,
5		A holiday in Cuba Leave everything behind and go on a trip,
7		A woman’s thoughts If I was this,
8		Afternoon on the corniche Corn on the cob from noisy push cart vendors,
10		All rolled into one Is the moon made of cheese?
12		An off-Broadway holy production The nearby church was being renovated,
13		Be/leaving I used to believe in a happy ever after,
14		Big brotherly love Built-in obsolescence,
15		Citizen (Tare)K I am a citizen of a state of mind,
16		Copyright, copyleft, copytheft Copyright, copyleft, copytheft,
18		Dear Liary Witnesses to the passing of my days,
20		Déjà vu Haven’t I written this one before?
21		Dreams in JPEG Turtles are atheists,
23		Elle Trouva L’amour “Elle Trouva L’Amour” (Inspired by a painting by Jamil Habbal).
24		En Français dans le texte L’enfer c’est les autres,
25		Everything’s going to be all right! I saw death in the eyes of a newborn,
26		Five-star loneliness The bath robe in the hotel is immaculately clean,
28		Gentlemen prefer Jojotti With a high pitch, she shouted: “Cherie! c’est Jojotti”,
31		I love spam I hear that Samantha wants to sleep with me,
32		In living memory Someone said “The memory joy is a memory of joy,
33		Monsters under my head As a little child, just like any child,
34		My head Inside my head,
37		Naked for all to be Look at my naked features, I am almost a primate,
38		Oh, shit! Sitting on the latrine contemplating my toes,
39		Oh, what a lovely war! In eighty three, as we go down to La Medina,
41		Poems by the kilos Fresh poems, get them while they are still hot,
42		Repeat cycle Poems by the kilos
43		Rise The stone which the builders disallowed,
44		RORRIM (My mirror reversed) My reflection saw me in the mirror and paled,
45		State of mind your own business Great minds think alike,
47		“Surrender”, or else! The bumper sticker said: “Surrender to Jesus”,
48		Thank you for breaking my heart Thank you for breaking my heart,
49		The book of sadness and oblivion Elias is traveling tonight on a plane,
51		The eerie presence As I was walking in the arid landscape,
53		The first rain (Sept. 5, 2003) Today, it is the first rain,
54		The irony of the undertaker I once asked an undertaker,
55		The sketch book My uncle offered me a sketch book,
56		Thirteen years later Thirteen years later,
58		This kid is leaving This kid is leaving,
59		Those damn tourists Ah, those damn tourists,
60		To the nearly departed Kharaja wa lam ya’od, Kharajat wa lam ta’od,
61		“U.S”. v/s “US” I am a fanatic of moderation,
62		United they stood In the memory of Ladan and Laleh Bijani, Iranian conjoined twins who died
64		Velvet revolution A velvet revolution in the streets of my soul,
65		Wings The images rolled on, sharp and clean,
68		You can’t return home again “You can’t return home again,” I have been told,

Edoxus 2004

71		Before and after Pretending to be fine,
72		Belfast The Europa hotel got tired of being bombed,
73		Candid Camera Ashamed of being happy?
75		Don’t give up on me Don’t give up on me,
77		It kills me that you’re dead It kills me that you’re dead,
78		John John, now and then
79		Middles No ends and no beginnings, just middles,*
80		Million Miles Millie A diner in California on a dark blue day,
82		Mother She pours blessed water as she cooks spaghetti,
84		New moon in Scorpio Today, there’s a new moon in Scorpio,
85		Proofs of life In an Eggleston photograph,
86		Storytelling with rhymes All these characters breed inside my head,
87		The concert is over The concert is now over, the people vanished in a puff,
88		The future, as we imagined it to be, only not quite The last time I left something for later,
89		The mourning after Save your prayers for the morning after,
91		Washing Machine Round and round off you go,

Catcher in the Rhyme (2005)

93		And give us our daily bread! You don’t have to be a sad bastard to be a poet,
95		Automat-arek Tying my moccasins’ shoe lace,
96		Back when we believed Back when we believed,
97		Dreams in Chanel vamp What strange dream have we dreamt?
99		Dying in the shadow of a greater man All men are created equal, my ass.
100		Flapping The ghost of the butterfly stills haunts the light bulb,
101		Flawful! Flawful! – a mix of awful and contrary of flawless,
102		Habemus papam “Habemus papam” or so we were told,
103		It’s raining sunshine It’s raining sunshine,
104		Later that same day All comic trips start with “Later that same day”,
106		Let us pray for rain Let us pray for rain,
107		Lovely it is to be We are homeless without our TV sets,
109		Miammamia Barilla tomato purée with olives,
110		Midnight still Midnight still, yet everything standing still,
111		Or so to speak I shall never turn my back on you,
112		Reminder I sometimes wonder what remains of it all,
113		Report card Life is what happens to you while you’re making other plans,
115		Second first times I always said that “There are no second first times”,
116		Sun burnt coffin The hearse was stationed in front of the church for too long,
117		Tangent intersection I took a walk,
118		The king of the plastic republic The plastic republic, as I have been told,
119		The lonely man in the Nighhawks He buys condoms to impress the late-night pharmacist,
121		Thirty six martyrs Thirty six martyrs,
122		Waiting for nothing in Iskenderun As the crippled dog follows its three faster friends,
123		Where the fat cats go astray Where the fat cats go astray,
124		White black coffee slippers A gift to her on mothers’ day,

Catcher in the Rhyme (2006)

126		A seahorse’s paternity leave What to expect when you are an expecting male seahorse,
127		iGod Never mind the kneeling woman,
129		Jazzakhistan How old is the girl from Ipanema? Is she still a girl?
130		More green for the Daltonian eyes “The winter sun used to be warmer”, I heard them say,
132		The wasted time What do I do with the wasted time?
133		Transcend Transcend the leaking roof,
134		Wednesday As I wore my Thursday shirt on a Wednesday (Laundry problem):

Beirut/NTSC (Never Twice Same City) Bethesda (2006)

136		Prologue … And the bombings over Beirut intensified, and I found myself…
141		Southwestern LUV Southwest airlines send their LUV to the troops in Iraq, and every other car
143		O-lives, O-dies It is difficult to function inside other people’s kitchens. My brother called me
145		Intimate behavior “It feels oppressive and sticky.”
146		WANN~1 Wann geht der nächste Schwan?
148		Survivor: Beirut Survivor: Beirut (Based on the real application form for Survivor as down-
151		Lucky “It doesn’t look too good for you back home”
152		Junk Brothers (Reworked from HGTV’s “Junk Brothers” website)
153		Safinat al Marah (Love boat) Orient queen
156		The original and the translation “I cannot imagine what is going on back there”, the voice said talking about
158		Long distance call I keep hearing that everything pales in comparison to what’s going on in my
160		French matters “It ain’t a world war before the French surrender,” I read that over a forum
161		The Stuckist “You are stuck! Stuck! Stuck! Stuck!” that was not a voice talking to me. It
163		Platinum blonde plane “What is the profession that got hit most severely in the current war in Leba-
166		Banlieue favelas “It sucks!”
168		Lars Eigner’s Sheraton room “The essence of “home” is the ability to exclude others. Those who have
170		Address book “Fwd”, three dreaded letters that herald the most unwelcome means of com-
172		Another call “And how are you holding on?”
174		Misadventures in communication Since 1997, the date I officially joined the internet, the longest I have stayed
179		Que les anciens morts .... Que les anciens morts fassent place aux nouveaux morts
182		Gregoire Is anyone plucking that nasty hair from my mother’s birthmark underneath
184		Champ-ain I feel as I am trapped in a “groundhog-day” without Bill Murray and Andie
186		Last call for departures in Gare de Lyon “Please leave a message after the tone and we will get back to you. Beep”
188		Mementos “Well, I am holding you on your promise. You told me to call you if I needed
190		Going dutch at McDonald’s “Let’s go Dutch and split the bill.”
192		Tourists in alien-nation “Hey, today is my treat.”
194		POW-Wow! “LEBANESE INVADING ISRAEL”
195		Lexicon The worst part is the hope, it is deceitful above all other things, it dupes and
197		Spider This letter was left at the Vietnam memorial along with a bouquet of red
199		Potato chips shelf life “No one can resist the taste of America’s favorite potato chips,” that’s true,
202		Across literary genres “It has to be raunchy.”
205		Kennedy money “FROM:MR RASAQ BELLO ,
207		Crayon coexistence Like a warm thought soon dismissed, I cross your mind at a red light, galax-
208		Feline prayer Our Father, who art in heaven hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy
209		Ni tout a fait la meme…. “Monsieur, vous attendez quelque chose?” (Sir, are you waiting for some-

Beirut/SECAM (Sequel Endlessly Changing Against Memory) (2007)

213		Welcome back Madonna In Beirut, Monday is followed by Tuesday, Tuesday by Wednesday, and so
215		VCR throwback The end butt of the day lights the next one, just like cigarettes, although no
217		Awards are like... Awards are like …. (Sooner or later every A**hole gets one)
219		Nor-mal – Sud-bien The truncated normalcy that phagocytes the city is betrayed by the avail-
220		Schizo”Frem”ia My name is Ephram. My nephew’s name is Ephram. “Frem” for short.In
223		A suitable husband “I have been buzzing for twenty minutes on the interphone, how come you
225		Everyone’s writing a book I know of at least six different people writing a book about the war this past
227		Watermelon “Bil rouh bi dam nafdik ya…” (With our souls, with out blood, we sacrifice
228		Application form Beirut is a city that can cast its spell on you. Can get under your skin, and
231		Public holidays The month of Ramadan is among us, the traveling month that comes 20 days
233		Lebanon – Manual of instructions In order to understand the inner workings of Lebanon, you must:
234		Overtime begging “What’s with this beggar woman?”
235		Kobi slams the door On May 25th, 2000, the last soldier of Israel’s occupation army, Major Kobi
236		Trading places “What a crazy summer it has been!”
237		Landmarks CCM10/04/0619:17 AI ZONE ACHRAFIEH-ABC VISA MERCHANT
239		Good neighbors become good friends [Warning: Sentence structure chaotic, Frenchman speaking]
242		Helpline for Camille Comtesse de Segur, nee Rostophshine. Real name Sophie. Camille and
245		Aborted revenge I drink from your mug while you’re away just to hurt you, but rinse it after-
246		Azizati Amal Azizati Amal…
247		Sign of the cross “You cross yourself quite a bit, which is strange for an agnostic”
249		Deja vu … And there was another assassination in Beirut, and I found myself…
250		No thanks for the giving “Did you ever notice how Arabs always leave something in the serving for
251		Anticipation – living in the now Lebanese expressions are full of anticipation I find today.
252		Instant heavenly noodles Two minutes Maggi® noodles:
253		Disconnect In a totally unrelated event:
254		We interrupt this program As seen on the Hezbollah backed Al Manar television.
256		Manuscript Serial clicker out on the loose, trying to unthink the thoughts, to unsink the
257		This side up My nephew’s less than 2 years old logic dictates that I have the keys to every
258		A language is a dialect with an army – Rabih Alameddine “Est-ce qu’on peux commander?”
259		VS Beirut Versus is a separation between two entities, often if not always, antagonistic.
260		Subcommittee My soul a bubble gum stuck underneath a table, left to drain from its saliva,
261		Shiite Christians and Sunni Christians “Are you a Chiite Christian or a Sunni Christian?”
263		Brittle ivory Like Pygmalia breathing life into ivory, and I wonder how the ivory must
264		Hello operator Like repeat offenders they come, spreading like a spilled ink, leaving stains
265		Going somewhere, going there fast Two blind people and a dead lady have obtained drivers’ license this year in
266		Rise and shine “Al Massih Kam”
268		The queen of hearts off with their heads The queen of hearts off with their heads (Original article by By Iman Azzi
273		A ring and I don’t mean on the phone The scream of the telephone raped of the silence of the apartment, the silence
274		The cold river tanned in blood “Boya! Boya! Boya!... Want to polish your shoe sir?”
275		Transcription – lost in translation Grendizer
279		It would have been funny if it was a joke A Lebanese minister goes to visit his French counterpart on an official mis-
280		Airport lounging BOARDING PASS/Carte d’acces a bord
284		Hearing aid Another day about to be burried in the graveyard of monotony resting
285		Watermarks “The city is like a woman” would write – repeatedly – Ed McBain, I wonder
286		Yes Yes, the odor of the damp shelter nights came rushing back breathlessly
287		Epilogue Started on July 17th 2006, this book has been ended on July 17th 2007.

Beirut/PAL (Prequel Anticipating Later) (2008)

289		The colors of wisdom The fog comes on Walt Whitman’s cat feet and you hair the color of wisdom,
290		Backslash parrots I love birds.
291		People like that Somewhere between abdicating from life without officially resigning some
292		PS: Love, RS Last time before a mirror each other v-love/evolv,
293		Deviling you I saw the devil in you, so God must exist somewhere,
294		Shamus (Inspired by John le Carre)
296		Anatomy’s grey Friday, who shot JC?
298		William Somerset’s Al Madik Al Dayyik* La historia me absolvera mein kampf, yes, history will do justice to our
300		Scrabble Over a letter counts double she puts,
301		Poem for an Electrolux fridge in Kalmar And there is sad for her tiny petal
302		Swedish Moon on Narvavagen Inspired by Ziad Rahbani

Tarek Chemaly’s three books of 2009, published on 111101 with the author’s permission. getting the news from poems: layout Mike Awad. Archewallogy: design Farah Samman, cover Ashekman. Jnune 7 – 2009: with Rami El Khoury, Upstairs Publishing; photographs as credited on each page.