We Are Awesome discussion

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Knowledge > Sometimes a newspaper shows real life& sometimes not. It's hard to tell what's true.

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message 1: by Douglas (new)

Douglas Gilbert | 226 comments A long time ago I read an article in the New York Times about ex-patriots living in New York, working in restaurants trying to survive. I never knew how accurate it was and if it made any sense.

Cooking Gyros For Swat Valley

We used to be
the Switzerland of Pakistan
many orchards
much fruit
much minding.

In my mind I see
the mulberry trees,
see much fruit, the
plum of the valley
minding apricots, damson
cracking walnuts like jewels
minding a fig leaf
a grape, the jujube
minding these and the olive tree
in my dreams of Swat Valley

We thought
like fruit flies
insurgents could be thwarted
could be swatted

In exile, my
restaurant work is a meditation
chopping lamb into chunks
into pieces, coalescing
thoughts for peace
charcoal broiled
hoping coalition forces will
bring a peace home, but I
am mashed chick peas
and tahini: the skeleton of
the sesame seed, fallen, my
kernel floated and crushed
feeling pasty, stuck in New York
rolling out an unfamiliar phyllo flat
with pistachios and honey sadness.

Oh the strutting about,
the grazing on tables where
all the world's a
thoughtless stage, confused
the size of Delaware
the size of Swat
valley of rotting fruit
and war.

Stand up for Swat Valley
the Switzerland of Pakistan

The Taliban
have kidnapped
my Father, and

from here in refuge
I work to earn a ransom, the
flowers of my Swati meadows
in my mind, my eye,
the charcoal smell of my
burnt house wafted in a nostril

Oh Pakistan,
for every truce I die,
while every envoy
seems to fiddle
with Shariah at the door.


message 2: by Awesome, The Super Awesome Mod (new)

Awesome Momi | 1052 comments Mod
it was written by whom??!!
malala?


message 3: by Awesome, The Super Awesome Mod (new)

Awesome Momi | 1052 comments Mod
i dont really know whetehr its true or not but yes,what i can say is that pakistan is one of the most awesome country ever!!and is extremely beautiful!


message 4: by Douglas (new)

Douglas Gilbert | 226 comments Awesome wrote: "it was written by whom??!!
malala?"


It was written by me.


message 5: by Douglas (new)

Douglas Gilbert | 226 comments Awesome wrote: "i dont really know whetehr its true or not but yes,what i can say is that pakistan is one of the most awesome country ever!!and is extremely beautiful!"

Yes, I imagine that it's so. Seems beautiful.


message 6: by Douglas (new)

Douglas Gilbert | 226 comments Oh sorry, I was too timid to say that based on the article, I wrote a poem about it.


message 7: by Awesome, The Super Awesome Mod (new)

Awesome Momi | 1052 comments Mod
the poems great:)
am a pakistani:)
a job weldone douglas:)
hey,tell me about urself?
whats ur age n gender?:)


message 8: by Awesome, The Super Awesome Mod (new)

Awesome Momi | 1052 comments Mod
have u ever been to pakistan?:Dif not,do visit:)comeover to my house,i will make sure that u have the time of ur life:)


message 9: by Awesome, The Super Awesome Mod (new)

Awesome Momi | 1052 comments Mod
but hey media shows as if pakistan is really bad,but its not..its like every other country....there isnt that much terrorism as much media shows..people of other countries seeem to think that pakistan is weird and dangerous and i hate it..ur poem is kinda weird...it makes me cringe..no offense..at the same time its great:)
i just want everyone to have a good mindset about pakistan:)


message 10: by Douglas (new)

Douglas Gilbert | 226 comments Thanks. I understand how you would want everyone to have a good mindset about Pakistan. Bad news in the US makes us look horrible and out of control, but mostly we're OK. And I assume you have beautiful things too.


message 11: by [deleted user] (new)

I kinda feel little because your all talking really wisely. I don't judge a country by the media. Because if I did America doesn't sound to go because of Donald Trump.But to be honest I don't waste my time on things like that.I want to travel where ever life takes me!


message 12: by [deleted user] (new)

I hate Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton! They're worse than Obama! (US IDAHO GIRL SPEAKING HERE.)


message 13: by Douglas (new)

Douglas Gilbert | 226 comments Each of us must wait for the Earth to turn for us in our time zone to make the sunset for us, so we look at the stars at different times in different places but once a day we are in awe and wonder which star twinkles for us at a moment when others toil in the hot sun and others are asleep.


message 14: by [deleted user] (new)

OMG! Your Awsome! But yes I do not 'Judge a Book by its Cover'
Or more like 'Don't Judge a Country by the Newspaper'


message 15: by Cosmos (new)

Cosmos | 927 comments Right on, Bree!


message 16: by Douglas (new)

Douglas Gilbert | 226 comments Thanks Cosmos. It's been so long that I've been writing in spurts in different ways and with every notion a different style and nothing works. I once had dreams to write and as each and every dream fails to find fruition, I flail about looking for the right strategy for a campaign because I'm serious about wanting to write something, anything that sticks in the mainstream (money which I don't have), because I'm running out of time and soon there will be nothing left of me, because there is a contradiction: I am incredibly unable to socially interact but to succeed I must make a public splash. My only hope is to get an interview on TV in New York which is no problem geographically because I'm in New York, but I'm not sure I want to take the poor-me route, but I suppose I should because how else are they going to be interested. Maybe I could do it: After all I did scare the hell out of myself but managed when I read poems in public in Central Park and in Columbus Circle in New York City. Geez, am I desperate but even after all of that, nothing. So silly to say, but you don't know how scared I was to speak in public and then I realized it was all for nothing to overcome nothing. And so now I see no one is going to respond to the "village idiot."


message 17: by Cosmos (new)

Cosmos | 927 comments I dread speaking in public, too.


message 18: by Awesome, The Super Awesome Mod (new)

Awesome Momi | 1052 comments Mod
we always have your back doug!always!!
right guys?:)


message 19: by Joyce (new)

Joyce Dawn (Joyce_Dawn) | 132 comments Doug,
I love your voice. Give me this today and I will fantasize for a lifetime. There is a secret growl that thrills me because if you'd let me I'd love you and I know you'd purr.


message 20: by Douglas (new)

Douglas Gilbert | 226 comments oh Joyce then what shall I say, I'm not a singer exactly of the traditional kind. Teach me you...


message 21: by Awesome, The Super Awesome Mod (new)

Awesome Momi | 1052 comments Mod
lol!!
wait,do u guys know eachother or whta??!!


message 22: by Douglas (new)

Douglas Gilbert | 226 comments yes in many odd and secret ways. Most people if they knew what we do would think we're spies, and I do remember that in college that there was a CIA recruiter on campus and they said be very careful if you take an interview because you will have to tell all your friends that you did not take an interview or if you already told them that you should say that you failed or that you got a very low level assignment at an Embassy as the lowest of clerks even though that would be a lie.


message 23: by Joyce (new)

Joyce Dawn (Joyce_Dawn) | 132 comments Oh Doug, you're so silly. You know I love you but don't give away any secrets.
    Folks, don't believe him. He's not a spy or anything major, but he's paramount for me anyway. We are magnificent scatterbrains and we breed Trojan Horses in our spare time.


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