Persiflage & Paroxysm

An impromptu verse by Hani Bathish We are all afraid though we rarely dare to be fair say so out loud we are way too proud. We are afraid of not making enough of not having the right stuff of belonging to the wrong group the wrong sect, political chorus, or tyre burning troupe of being grabbed off a street corner thrown in that place they call 'behind the sun' from what I hear, its no fun. We are afraid of driving and not making it home hit by a drunk with an empty dome we are afraid of fumes, of high tension, and thick plumes of the food we eat, the fruit we pick of sticking our naked prick of cancer causing everything. We are afraid, most of all, of what we can't see like the furniture when the power goes or the future of our kids, will they be free? or will they still be arguing over who's country this is or will politics and posturing loose their fizz We are afraid of revolution of change and evolution of standing still of moving ahead of sleeping in our bed of the

Thank you Lebanese people for making sex and competitiveness such utterly disgusting experiences. It seems that every time you switch on the tube you find out how far into Sodom and Gomorra territory we have really strayed. My mom is watching a local drama series right now dubbed ‘Sara’, which I suppose shows the viewer an accurate depiction of real Lebanese society. What struck me the most about this show is how the protagonists are so adept at making their own lives a living hell by making one asinine decision after another. Society, this creature that seems to have a life of its own, is sustained by our repeated capitulations as individuals, our failure to be courageous enough to be different and break free. By subjugating our own individuality to the will of this monster we feed it and it grows more powerful. No longer the conservative, religiously devout, tight knit, and quaint community of the pre-1975 ‘La Dolce Vita era’, today’s Lebanese society is an ugly aberration fed by