North Africa like a cord,
or cable made of interwoven wires,
begins to unravel,

with each strand lost,
the stress increases,
as does the tension on the cable,

the first wires to unwind,
old and frayed,
Tunisia and Egypt unwound,
and the cable seemed intact,
the damage only hidden to the naked eye,

now as the strands continue to unravel,
the cable reacts violently to the strain,
soon the region in chaos,
as all that binds the region together,
becomes as unhinged as Gaddafi himself.

© Douglas Polk

Where the Arab spring will end is anyone's guess
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Douglas is a poet from Nebraska. He has published three books of poetry; In My Defense, The Defense Rests, and On Appeal.
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Editor's Note: Douglas equates the turmoil in the Middle East, with the unravelling of a cable. But is it all coming undone at the seams, or will these events ultimately have a unifying effect?

I long to pogo with the Pokemon
Life is ok, now that Bob the Builder’s been and gone.
Watching TV to forget the news
to re-mind myself
none of it is true.

Popular Culture makes you think.
Chop it into little bits and flush it down the sink.
Throw the children overboard, the media she's Medea,
And she will kill them
if you leave her.

Once mocked, democracy
She won't come back to visit me
Operators are standing by to fill your life with stuff
I say that all of it
is never enough.

© Geoffrey Datson

A Critique of Reporting on the Middle East
----------------------------------------------------
Geoffrey Datson is a poet, singer-songwriter and composer. He has released several solo albums of spoken word works and song. Then, and Then: a memoir, is his first book.

A cold blooded murder
in the heated sand strewn streets of Jenin.
An execution
in front of the affirming doors
of the Freedom Theater.

God was a blind eyed nonpaying
Member of the audience that day,
Seemingly a critic of his own creation,
It was said that he left after the first and only act.
Which portrayed the slaying of a proud man
who had breathed
and now bled,
struggling through a divided life
with only one want
one artistic vision
to produce peace
upon a ghetto stage.

By pursuing freedom,
through
the release of creation,
the liberation of performance
the safety and sanity of the theater
as a relief from the chaos
and out of control insanity
of the daily drama portrayed beyond
the theater doors.

read more here...

© Joshua Baumgarten
Actor Juliano Mer-Khamis gunned down in Jenin
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Joshua Baumgarten is an ex-pat New Yorker living in Holland. He organises the Irrational Library evenings - nights of poetry, rock n roll and casual chaos, and performs as a Standup Spoken Word artist.

The cat provided cover
But still aware the trap was closing?
When the Middle East controlled
By less than 3% of the World...
It played no other part in the story
Except it survived

Recruitments in state school on the edge of Atlantic
Where they were once fired
It's now handshakes and welcomes
On every available surface
In every valuable language
So when they graduate to Embassy
They can gather and report work back?
A bright new dawn
Of enlightenment?
I don't need to build a shelter
I can predict the weather
The Middle East goes on forever

Many more will get murdered
But more eyes will open
You will not see this reported
So enjoy camcorder footage
When the Middle East controlled
By less than 3% of the world...

© Aaron Murdoch

MI5 advertises for possible recruits in St Andrews University student newspaper

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Aaron Murdoch is from Wirral and performs poetry widely around Merseyside. More at: Write Out Loud.