Diet

Transmute drunks into umbras,
nausea into abasement, debutantes into butter, 
meerkats back into debutantes, butter back into butter.

Then what?

Then nothing!

No more drunks, umbras, nausea, or abasement!
No more debutantes!
No more butter!

Indus

My name is Khalid Irfan.
Today I woke up in Skardu.
Tonight I will sleep in Mohenjo-daro.
Five stars are my fathers.
Five rivers are my sons.

In the mists above Karachi,
how many droplets jostle and coalesce?
Contracts and marriage vows dissolved
by the law of water.

From Kang Rinpoche to Sapta Singhu,
water woven into wind,
wind woven into water,
blue into blue.

What I Learned in Iraq

Did you learn how to fly?

Yes, I learned how to fly,
and I learned that

none of us

can

be

purified,

except by torture and humiliation.

Roaches

I think with my feet!
Are you some kind of robot?
My heart is an artichoke!
I only exist in a Hollywood out-take!


I think roaches are cute!
They got three little crotches!
They talk in trochees!
They eat candy for breakfast!
I think with my feet!

Dirty Money

People talk about bribes and
"dirty money" on the radio
and what they don't
understand is that it's all
dirty money,
every god-damned dollar in the world.