Here at Deorbital we want to bring you not only that good writing, but the people behind it. This week we’re bringing you Wasim Salman. In his own words:
Wasim Salman — born to Lebanese immigrants in the slums of Southern California. devours games and poetry. beginning work on a post-modern cyberpunk epic poem.
Wasim brought us Magazine: Firmware this week, a longform narrative poem about living in Lebanon and living in a world deeply informed by guns, both real and digital.
A verse from the poem:
ب
I walk to ‘the office’.
a small, dusty store between the two halves of the village.
sun low. I step inside.
it’s hot. humid dust. children packed around the six computers in the back.
the owner knows my face.
I look at him
‘hey, what’s going on?’
‘half the kids are playing Counter-Strike, others are waiting for their grades to drop…’
‘they’re releasing grades via internet here?’
‘yeah, it’s the first year they’re doing it.’
I nod.
I walk around. look at the illegal Chinese fireworks.
whenever a student passes with high enough grades, families set off fireworks all over the village.
I listen to the gunfire coming from the back.
I remember the first time someone mentioned Counter-Strike to me.
I thought they were talking about the Command & Conquer: Red Alert expansion.
I lean on the glass case. I watch the schoolkids. none older than 13.
a girl wearing hijab coaches her little brother through a match.
he gets irritated. yells at her to stop.
she’s bored. waiting for her grades.
Counter-Strike is one more avenue for competition in the village.
one more way to prove tactical masculinity.
one more way to forget the faceless, droning sky.
one more way to ignore immediate annihilation.
America sees it as game theory. American media is unsure about its violence.
Counter-Strike becomes the target of virtual protests. of players refusing to engage in violence. refusing to glorify death.
but none of that luxury here.
that debate has no meaning here. 30 years of war and occupation.
what’s left to unsee?
the girl gets her grades.
a fight breaks out in the back over cheating.
I buy some fireworks and leave.
Wasim has also written for Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Here he is on arcade shoot-em-ups:
And on his own personal site:
Finally, if you like his work and want to support him, you can do so by buying his new compilation of poetry:
That’s everything for now! If you want more of Wasim, you can follow him on his site, or over on Medium and Twitter at @garbage_bear
