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Live Encounters Gaza Poetry & Writing, January 2024
War is the end of the world, poem by Tariq Hashem.
War is the end of the world
With a rare effect
He said it five times
In the first time, he did not just cry
So he got up
To be heard by the audience
War is the end of the world
Those present did not pay attention
They slept in the big hall
In the second time
He tried to wake them up
Then his voice rose
A frame fell from the wall
It contained a picture of Nietzsche
In a state similar to a hug
War is the end of the world
The third time did not work
With what he wished for
So he started screaming
Those present here are like miserable stones
Oh war
How do you not know Jack?
Yes, he is
I saw him in a small theater
Those who gathered around him were aroused by his movements
He was jumping in successive jumps
With his thick hands, he slaps the wall
Nietzsche did not fall
He is still hanging on the edges of the frame
And Jack is still in the reincarnation circle
In the fourth case
I realize that there is nothing there
Those present here heard it for the first time
War is the end of the world
They kept whispering
Yes he is
This is Jack
It is his confusing simplicity itself
He had gone down into the audience
To scream at them again
It is war
War is the end of the world
When he went up to the stage again
His features stared at me again
It is him
Yes, it is Jacques Prévert
With his living and breathing
And his excessive humanity
Yes, this is the color of his tears
This is his length
His sharp eyes in their gaze
He also lost his lover in the morning
She had run away with her obese friend
I swear to God that you listen to him
To contemplate the movement of his tired hands
His shoulders turning towards the cheerleaders
As an old pro
A tear must have strayed from his eyes
And one of the audience was injured
So the theater exploded with excitement
Everyone here realized it was him
The funeral tears flowed from the chaos of his tears
Many here could not imagine
That life is so extravagant
To give them that special moment
The movement itself
The sound in its degrees
The horrifying sensitivity
How many times did he turn his back to the audiences?
So that they do not see his tears
This is how every time he remembers Barbra, his old lover
When the audience approached the stage
He was gone forever
Evaporating like a ray of sun at sunset
The administrators here know him well
The old theatrical lighting worker
Separated people with his harsh voice
This is not Jacques Prévert
He is one of the extras
In a band of old wanderers
And the role was assigned to him
When the hero had a car accident
And he had lost his memory
They found no one else
They found none other than fake Jack
He is not Jack
not him
not
© Tariq Hashem
Tariq Hashem is an Egyptian poet and a researcher in the history of songs. He has published seven poetry collections. In addition, he won many prizes form different cultural Egyptian institutions.