Tuesday, 3 May 2016

My Poetry: Prophets Of War

Masked men throw sledgehammers
At antiquated figures of worship
Faces of historic pagan idols
Turn to dust under metal fist
Drawing blood red anger
From fusty academics
Fenced into wooden
Ornate graven boxes
Decorated with ornaments
Of their useless sentimentality:
Don’t forget, said ‘terrorist’ leader
History has no meaning
Art is narcissism
Leave the dead dead.

Sanctioned terror reigns
Bombs on deserts,
But who are our enemy?
Why do I feel empathetic,
Listening to this vandal?
What powers angers me
About society as it does he?
Under hajab, or behind tie
We are all the same:
Fundamental in our needs
Arbitrary in our desires
Horrible in our convictions.

Blood spills into the corridors
Of museums,
Woman martyred for shielding
History from murderous thieves.
Symbolic books,
Used to guide belief in death,
Now used to justify destruction
Of marble and flesh.

On plastic western streets
Our fight is for a choice
From whom to seek salvation
For when he who cares not
For sin or skin tone comes
His intentions will be most honest
He will make dust of us all.
So nail your colours to the mast
And pick a text,
But it took me five weeks
To buy a coat I don’t wear,
How long have I left to choose

My saviour?

I wrote this after watching a documentary on Isis - the film focused on their desire to destroy old images/statues etc of anything which people had historically worshipped. Of course the film also hinted that they were selling pieces of plundered artwork to foreign collectors; thus making money of the people they publicly want to frighten by smashing up museums.

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