El Habib Louai
There is So Much Suffering in the House of God
I do not blame
the teachers who forgot
to talk about the real plot
& left it up to me
the lesson turns against them
there is so much suffering
in the house of God
who is supposed to protect us
from the shabbiness of our age?!!
I spit on the crown of whose kingdom
embalms the rotten wounds with tar
I spit on the crown of whose kingdom
cheaply spills the pauper's blood
let them come to you
in caravans of unjustified sinners
let them come under the storm
wishing for a perennial happiness
serve them newly mended umbrellas
a hard rain is going to fall
I do not blame
the teachers who forgot
to talk about the real plot
& left it up to me
the lesson turns against them
they shall send them again
the exact amount needed
to tide them through another month.
El Habib Louai is a native of Morocco. He is a poet, translator and musician currently working as a teacher of English at Azaytoune junior High School. His poems have been published in various magazines like Big Bridge Magazine, Istanbul Literary Review, Sagarana Magazine and Radius. His first collection of poems, Mrs. Jones Will Now Know: Poems of a Desperate Rebel, was published by Paper Press.
thistles stretch their prickly arms afar
thistles stretch their prickly arms afar
Militant Thistles