Mostafa Ahmed
2 Poems

The Great Little

Make America Great
Make America Great!
But there’s no great
without little.

I am little. America
made me little
Inside little. Outside little.
It made my world
little. It took little, then little,
then little and left me
with so little,
then undressed me
from the left little and covered me
with little. Too little
that is not enough to cover
even my little. I am Mr. Little
living in a little earning
a little and learning a little
Everyone calls me little
since THAT what makes them great,
calling me little. Zoom out
a little, a little bit more
can you see now? We are all little
Even the GREAT is little
Zoom in now
a little bit more I am no more
little. So when you see me little
it’s only because. you see little

 

Let the World End

I need to think

I need to reason

to find the real me

trapped in me

caged by iron ribs

disturbed by loud heartbeats

distracted by all the voices in my head.

 

I need to ponder the whims, desires and peculiarities within

I find a beast fighting to be unleashed

a dove roaming around in my head

a flowing waterfall of love descending in my veins

fragmented splinters of pain lacerating my flesh

an evil spirit devouring my soul

an enemy sheltering in my figure

firing at the closest to me using the gun in my mouth

using vulgarity that my conscious disdains

a naive child fooling around causing me embarrassment

a righteous Sheikh sermonizing a frivolous sinner

a great dictator struggling to suppress

met with a rebellion from anarchic revolutionaries

 

all me, all in one body

 

An Armageddon erupts between all the me(s)

swords clanking, horses neighing, and a continuous wail of pain never halts

arrows pouring down like rain thrusting soldiers on the ground

a knight slaughters another at the end of a cutlass

with a scimitar another penetrates an abdomen

and drags the intestines throwing them in the air

a cavalier with a flail plucks the pumping part of a brave soldier

soldiers die and others survive

in a battle that will only end

when the whole world ceases to exist.

 

 

Mostafa Ahmed is a Fulbright scholar. He came to the US in 2016. He graduated with his MA in English from Emporia State University in May 2018. Mostafa has had several poems published in Quivira 2016 and 2017.  His most recent work is coming out soon in Flint Hills Review.  Mostafa works as an English teacher and a writing tutor.