The Ezra Pound Poem by Nassy Fesharaki

The Ezra Pound

To the north, on DuPont
-when driving westward,
-there is a restaurant
-which I saw thanks to sign
- (foot by foot, too small;
-with name of Ezra Pound.)

And he is my idol
-prompt, I pulled over;
-parked and paid using card.

In my mind the café
-would be filled with smoke,
-bottles and glasses,
-and people with beard,
-weary with uncombed hair;
-and few could wear ties,
-like jokers, large, small
-and women in dress…

I saw me where poets
-came, mingled together
-in Café-Naderi…
-ordered cake and coffee
- (if summer, ice-cream…)

The walls of my dream
-would be filled with posters
-of artists and greats
-and the books of authors
-racked in shelves, cabinets;
-all bearing signatures.

Looked at me my friend
-totally lost, puzzled
-wordless and in silence
-with his eyes asked question:
- "…crazy? This movement? "

I think I explained:
- "He is my favourite! "

On our way to the door
-I thought of what to take:
- "Coffee and piece of cake;
-no, please, bring lunch…"

Kept changing my mind till
-doorframe made me think:
- "Where are we? "
- "What is this? "

I was lost in the air
-like smoke imagined…
-to dance in endless time;
-not settle, just change shape…

"Where are we? "
"What is this? "

Like café of dreams
-small were the tables
-not many, scattered
-and mostly occupied.

No trace of the books.
No trace of posters.

The guests were not at all
-what I had expected.

Obvious it was that
-they were of offices
-on break for the lunch.

Had to learn everything;
-ordered a sandwich
-the day's choice, egg-salad,
-which is not favourite…

"Why such name? " I questioned.
- "Ezra is the owner…
-…and we pound our coffee."
-World apart this Ezra is with mine…

My Ezra was fighter
-was brain and maker
-of poets and writers
-as well as redactor
-and rebel, manager…

Most of all, a friend
-and greatest mirror
-to facts of USA…

One who owes him a lot
-is Ernest Hemingway.

Others are plenty
-Eliot and James Joyce
-are only a few…

Ezra is one of best
-to reveal government
-of the fifty States.

Brutal has been, is
-this devil of the time
-that deserves life in cage
-as has done to others...

When George Bush
-ordered the secret cells
-for guilty, innocent
-that would be arrested
-in the land of ancient
-history and culture
-with simple excuse:
- "Enemy…Bin Laden,
-and you, fought USA! "
-he copied D. Roosevelt;
- (our Ezra faced the same.)

White House is inventor
-of the false, unjust names
-for fooling the nation
-to approve the nonsense
-blames for punishment.

Remember change of name
-of ‘Fries' (Not French) ?

Remember smashing
-wine bottles: "Are French! "?

Weren't they extreme?

Did not people believe?

Was is not based on lies
-on Missiles of Saddam?

Didn't Bush and his men
-Cheney and Khalilzad
-destroy world-around?

The same was with Ezra
- (barraged with wrong crimes
-all of untrue and baseless.)

Ezra being Fascist?

He was caged as men are
-inside the Guantanamo!

The rulers deserve cage
-and blind and shackle,
-deep in the basements where
-tied in chains were slaves;
-not people who dare to
-stand and criticize…

What would be English
-if Ezra had not been
-an expat and fighter?
-Would we have Eliot?
-What about Hemingway?
-could we have literature
-as learned, taught, is today?

Who is right for the cage?