Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Cairo Collect Call

The air is hanging heavy
over the Nile
as fists rise above heavy handed rule
as soldiers put down their guns
to pick up small children atop their tanks.
Heavy eyes watch from either side
sitting at tables tapping on the tops
chewing their pens
watching the television anxiously
with fingers on buttons
fingers on phones
eyes on the people.

The dog is biting back now
its leash is off and the other neighborhood dogs
shake off their collars
the rest wait till their owners
look the other way,
but the cats they stand with their tails curled
their hairs static in the electric air
as the neighborhood dogs run off their leashes
free to roam
away from the masters smack of
his bloody back hand.

Smoke rises above the delta
passing from the up-downstream
into the big bowl of salty marble water
which carries into the tumultuous waves
that sending the burning flotsam of the Nile
onto wild shores,
immediately burning out as the fire
hits the doors of the
TV stations and viewers' homes.

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