m a g e d    z a h e r

                              From: Rimbaud Outsourced
                                                                  (or Thank You for the Window Office)
 

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Cocaine video bust

Magick bus sex hello roller-coaster

Hello soup de jour precious feelings

reduced junk camouflage: here we do sales
There they do cooking

and in the resurrection parade
I took a different name

THERE IS ALSO THE INEVITABLE TYPOGRAPHICAL TWIST TO THE PLOT

But what if we see people management as an essential ingredient?

Since Canada is so big
For one group of angels to organize its second coming
(which is going to be an inside job)


the bohemian is still alive though
and is admitting to having desires
and to saying things like:
the baby pictures are cute

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someone said

mass suicide can be erotic
and so was chairman Mao’s cultural revolution
Okay, let us flirt again
one plane, one shuttle,
four metro lines, and here you are:
an occasional muse
but the other poet has been actively denying his poem
its right to sleep
he says "hush your political dream
because you give rastamen a bad name"
instead I am preparing my magnetic dance
to horrify the board of directors
which is – of course - a white invention
yes dear random coworker
since the whole point is to have a fetish
he likes to think of you wearing only
a boot and a scarf

can you imagine what some
s&m would do to this poem
poets are not technocrats charlie
So, I have to concede that she is wearing a nice hijab
and that I understand poetry to be about both fucking
and fucking up
already you will never understand my ESL fantasy
regarding which book cover to use

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if you love me you will carry my parrot on your shoulder

and let it express itself
so, what if you just ate an overpriced burger
it is love that will eventually make a difference
and keep in mind that to hold the earth with one hand you
need a larger notebook
at some point, I will say that I am tired of your history
and that I am tired of this poem

because it lets itself influenced by pop culture themes
you know, the black dress, the perfume,
and agile management styles
I just want to tell the same story to different people
about the Brazilian lap dancer who brought my friend happiness
she taught him about the exotic drama of having an accent
"do you love me at least?" he said to his doctor
who replied: "We have to keep the news about the project a secret
but not the loneliness of the engineers”
I am dreaming it I am dreaming that
I am just dancing to a rhythm
and that I am not interested in hitting the cache machine yet
"hi my name is cinnamon and I will be your drama teacher for one evening,
you see I am dressed up for the part
at least I swear I was an hour ago
but I lost my buddy for the exciting weather
now it is time to get a big hug and leave"

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Dear poet, you are one of those

who think that death is just another tool for the living to use

and that soccer is a great sport, even with all
the time spent driving around to find the perfect stadium

I see my shadow fades is it one more thing to sacrifice for meaning?
So many things are over for example: the world
Alcohol is a proper nightmare
snd poetry is just a distortion that makes sense
If you are looking for external validation
I am alive but I lied to the world
About the random desires I keep having
So what if we objectify each other
Life is better be a song of destruction
A burlesque show that is starting soon
I am not aware of the consequences
because I know that a poet need to be literally
against the world
at least by feeling entirely surrounded
The world is alive and drunk
A brilliant calculation of power
The rest of the rest are drunk
Including the Egyptian who is waiting
For the dream to climb the rest of the steps


In our Judaeo-Christian tradition we fuck you over kindly if you crossed us
The virus that swept the computer today
Was masculine and not to be taken seriously

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MAGED ZAHER’s first full length book of poetry, Portrait of the Poet As an Engineer, was published by Pressed Wafer in 2009. His collaborative work with the Australian poet Pam Brown, Farout Library Software, was published by Tinfish Press in 2007. His translations of contemporary Egyptian poetry have appeared in Jacket magazine and Banipal. He has performed his work at Subtext, Bumbershoot, the Kootenay School of Writing, St. Marks Project, Evergreen State College, and American University in Cairo, among other places.


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