In the Land of Maow Maow

The residents of Damascus, Syria use the term (Maow Maow) to refer to an imaginative land in the heart of a jungle where there is no civil law and the natives are cannibals. The term is usually used as a “mockery” to refer to a situation of injustice and suppression. I tried once to geographically locate it, but I found out that it doesn’t exist.

In the Land of Maow Maow

By Tarif Youssef Agha

In the land of the Maow Maow

Everything can happen

Lives can be turned upside down

There is no one who is safe

From being killed

And no one is bigger than

Being dragged in the streets

There is no one who

Has a feather on his head

Or who is not a drug dealer

Or will be dead

For half a century, this land

Has been mixed with blood

***

Nothing there will stop a dummy

From snatching the throne

Like a bunny

Or from becoming a worshiped god

While he is the dumbest of the dumb

But in destroying,

He is the best of the best

Nothing there will stop him

No task or test

From inviting vicious foreign forces to protect him

By killing the rest

Or from inviting Hajooj and Majooj (the marauders from the East according to the book of Prophet Daniel in the Old Testament)

In order to help him fight his people

He is ready to invite the worst of the worst

To help him stay in power

To keep everybody cursed

***

In the land of Maow Maow

Cannibalism is still practiced

Even now

They are still slaughtering humans

Not recognizing that humans are not cows

As they have no mercy in their hearts

And have no sight in their eyes

In this land

The king is chosen from the vulgar

Through tricks and through lies

And imported from different people

In order to be his peoples’ best enemy

And their biggest demise

You will discover in this land that

Your neighbor is watching you

And even your brother

Is spying on you

With sneaky eyes and ears

S your life will be filled by fear

Is not a coincidence

My dear

***

In the land of Maow Maow

Prisons are homes and towns

With no chains nor bounds

Torture is life

Terrorism is food

Regardless of where it was found

Every citizen has a charge

That doesn’t drop but only by death

Do not look for this land anywhere

It is located everywhere

It is located in every land where

The human being has no value

Killing is a state policy

And spitefulness is the state title

In the land of Maow Maow

***

Tarif Youssef-Agha

An Expatriate Arab Syrian Writer & Poet

Member of the ‘Syrian Revolutionary Writers Assembly’

Modified by: Evan Youssef-Agha

Friday August 31^st. 2012

Houston, Texas

http://sites.google.com/site/tarifspoetry