'Listening' to Michael Jackson in Tehran

[melodily.livejournal.com]

after Azar Nafisi

Smuggled across the fierce chasm
between us and the US

and then snuggled, in fact stuffed
between Writing and Science

books in my taut school bag
the illegal and sacrilegious

cassette-tape of Thriller, for
exhibition to the ignorant and envious

on the bus to my primary
school in war-stricken Tehran. My plan:

to expose the enchanting thing and
parade my worth, appeal

trendiness, affluence, knowledge,
etc. The autumn of '83

and desperate for approval
from the other kids. This copy

of the phenomenon to elevate
my chubby, unpopular ego

in the eyes of others; to testify
to my courage and rebelliousness

for possessing a piece of banned
dangerous Western devilry

and decadence in the Islamic Republic.
As a prelude to flaunting my claim

to recognition I asked the kid
next to me if he had ever heard of

'Billie Jean' and 'Beat it'; if
he knew anything whatsoever

about the famous American singer
"the number one famous star" in our

superior enemy's music charts. Baffled
he spoke boisterously:

"I love Thriller! Aren't the zombies
so scary in the music video! They're so ugly!" His words

echoed. Everyone in the bus
repeated the singer's name. Another

said he had a Thriller poster, and another
a 'Billie Jean' T-shirt from Turkey. I hated

this being deprived of my desired
exceptionality. How could the smelly

nerd have seen the video of the 'infidel'
entertainer? Wasn't his father

a regular at the mosque, his mother
covered in black chador? I sank

back in my seat, hating
the uselessness and the ubiquity

of the Great Satan's gaudy popular culture.


Ali Alizadeh