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Writing poetry was the balm that kept Guantanamo prisoners from going mad
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 7/17/5 | Thomas Coghlan

Posted on 07/17/2005 12:44:23 PM PDT by SmithL

Peshawar, Pakistan -- During three years in Guantanamo Bay, Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost says that poetry kept him from losing his sanity. By the time of his release this spring, he had written more than 25,000 lines in his Cuban prison cell.

During the first year of his imprisonment, the 44-year-old Afghan prisoner didn't even have paper or a pen. Instead, he scratched lines of verse with his fingernail into Styrofoam cups.

One poem reads: "Just as the heart beats in the darkness of the body, so I, despite this cage, continue to beat with life. Those who have no courage or honor consider themselves free, but they are slaves. I am flying on the wings of thought, and so, even in this cage, I know a greater freedom."

"Poetry was our support and psychological uplift," said his brother and fellow Guantanamo inmate, Badruzamman Badr, in an interview at the family home in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, where they have lived as expatriates since 1975. "Many people have lost their minds there. I know 40 or 50 prisoners who are mad. But we took refuge in our minds."

Dost was already a respected religious scholar, poet, journalist and author of 19 published books before his arrest about a month after the Sept. 11 attacks. His prison writings would significantly increase that number, he said.

Along with thousands of poems in his native Pashto, he completed a book intended for future poets with an alphabetical list of all the rhymes in the Pashto language. He also wrote a book of Islamic jurisprudence in verse form and translated Arabic poetry into Pashto.

Both brothers deny that they ever supported al Qaeda. They admit they felt initial enthusiasm for the Taliban

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: terrorpoets
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To: tet68

Maybe in Pashto there really is a word that rhymes with orange!


21 posted on 07/17/2005 12:58:58 PM PDT by Theresawithanh (As long as Dean's the head of the D-N-C, it just looks better for the G-O-P!!)
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To: SmithL
I'm glad to see that the administration aiding the Arts.
22 posted on 07/17/2005 12:59:07 PM PDT by Mike Darancette (Mesocons for Rice '08)
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To: SmithL
"Just as the heart beats in the darkness of the body, so I, despite this cage, continue to beat with life. Those who have no courage or honor consider themselves free, but they are slaves. I am flying on the wings of thought, and so, even in this cage, I know a greater freedom."

Just as the virus gnaws at the essence of life, so I, despite this prison, continue to draw life from everything I touch. Those who have no courage or honor -- like my roomates and I -- consider themselves noble, but they are maggots. I am deluded on the wings of simplistic rapture and so, even in this prison, I know diddly squat.

23 posted on 07/17/2005 12:59:26 PM PDT by IronJack
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To: SmithL
Wearin' Panties by Mo Ha Med

My roomates wearin' panties
he says they feelin good
the sol-juzz think they make him talk
but he says they give him wood.


24 posted on 07/17/2005 12:59:27 PM PDT by DainBramage
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To: NormsRevenge
I smell a Nobel Prize for Literature, NOT!

Don't speak too soon. This is just the sort of crap the Nobel folks love to give awards for.

25 posted on 07/17/2005 12:59:59 PM PDT by silent_jonny (I miss you, Tammy)
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To: SmithL
"Just as the heart beats in the darkness of the body, so I, despite this cage, continue to beat my wife."
26 posted on 07/17/2005 1:00:22 PM PDT by inkling
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To: Theresawithanh





Maybe in Pashto there really is a word that rhymes with orange!


I think it's somewhere between "death to the great satan" and
"zionist kufar".


27 posted on 07/17/2005 1:02:41 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: SmithL

Great post, but you should've included a BARF ALERT in the title ;)


28 posted on 07/17/2005 1:03:49 PM PDT by silent_jonny (I miss you, Tammy)
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To: doug from upland

You win, thread's over...


29 posted on 07/17/2005 1:05:27 PM PDT by Ichneumon
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To: DainBramage

The man's a Shakespeare! ;) Love it!


30 posted on 07/17/2005 1:05:47 PM PDT by Maury
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To: SmithL

Wow.

Gitmo poetry sucks just as bad as regular poetry.

Who'da thought?


31 posted on 07/17/2005 1:05:55 PM PDT by Xenalyte (Anything is possible when you don't understand how anything happens.)
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To: SmithL
One poem reads: "Just as the heart beats in the darkness of the body, so I, despite this cage, continue to beat with life. Those who have no courage or honor consider themselves free, but they are slaves. I am flying on the wings of thought, and so, even in this cage, I know a greater freedom."

"...so I will kill you all if I ever get out of this place."

32 posted on 07/17/2005 1:06:12 PM PDT by Ichneumon
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To: peyton randolph

Come, now, you're leaving out the best parts!

The poem is actually titled "Images," and the author (as played by Eddie Murphy) is named Tyrone Green.

Dark and lonely on a summer's night.
Kill my landlord. Kill my landlord.
Watchdog barking. Do he bite?
Kill my landlord. Kill my landlord.
Slip in his window. Break his neck.
Then his house I start to wreck.
Got no reason. What the heck?
Kill my landlord. Kill my landlord.
C-I-L my landlord!


33 posted on 07/17/2005 1:07:14 PM PDT by Xenalyte (Anything is possible when you don't understand how anything happens.)
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To: Xenalyte

Thanks for posting the whole poem. Truly a masterpiece.


34 posted on 07/17/2005 1:11:06 PM PDT by peyton randolph (Warning! It is illegal to fatwah a camel in all 50 states)
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To: peyton randolph

It gives one goosebumps, no?

Wow. Just . . . wow. The beauty.


35 posted on 07/17/2005 1:12:54 PM PDT by Xenalyte (Anything is possible when you don't understand how anything happens.)
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To: SmithL
Excerpts from the book:

Here I sit
All broken-hearted
Tried to kill the Infidel
But only farted.

____

Little Ahmed Horner
Sat in a corner
Eating his Ramadan pie
He put in his thumb
and pulled out a plum
and shouted "DEATH TO THE INFIDELS!!"

____

Haiku for Islamic Extremists:

Memories of my long absent lover
Short brown hair
Baaaah! Baaaah!

36 posted on 07/17/2005 1:15:03 PM PDT by Reaganesque
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To: SmithL

There once was an Afhan at Gitmo
Who was a no good Islamofacist mo-fo
He scratched out a poem
And wished he was home
So he could behead and defile all the stupid Liberal morons who feel sorry for his worthless a$$


37 posted on 07/17/2005 1:33:42 PM PDT by 43north (Pain is God's way of telling me I'm still alive.)
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To: 43north

Make that: "Afghan at Gitmo"


38 posted on 07/17/2005 1:34:47 PM PDT by 43north (Pain is God's way of telling me I'm still alive.)
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To: SmithL
How bout some rap
39 posted on 07/17/2005 1:40:10 PM PDT by Boazo (From the mind of BOAZO)
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To: doug from upland
ROFL
40 posted on 07/17/2005 1:42:58 PM PDT by madison10
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