TOGANE:
SHORT & SHARP; SWEET & SOUR
When did you
leave Somalia?
In 1965.
What's your education background?
I have BA in English & American Literature; and an MA in
Creative Writing.
Do you think Somalia will ever get a viable
government?
Yes,
when hens grow teeth
when pigs sprout wings and learn to fly
when hair begins to grow on your palms
when cats and mice learn to live in peace
when Arabs and Jews begin to learn to live together
in peace
in Jerusalem
as the capital of their
common state bound
as one people fathered by
Prophet Abraham
as kissing cousins
as kin & kith
holding their Faith
in Allah
in the unity of spirit
in the bonds of Peace
in the righteousness of
Life.
Most Somalis think that you are not Muslim,
why do you think they reach this conclusion?
Thank God!
I live now in Canada
Where it does not matter
what most Somalis think
Where I am free from all religions
Particularly from
ignorant & arrogant
black & bad
primitive & brutal
postiche & bogus
foolish & fanatical
violent & vainglorious
coercive & irrational
Munaafaq & mindlessly clannish Somali Islam.
Thank God!
I live now in Canada
Where I can practice any
religion I damn well please!
But I am beyond religions
Thank God!
I live now in Canada
Where I dare declare without
getting killed by fanatical fools
that Love is my religion and the universe is my Holy Book
Thank God!
I live now in Canada
Where I now enjoy being a
postulant Sufi abecedarian
Free to be me
Free to be Togane
Free to celebrate & savor the sapid postulative insight that
"Religion is for those
who are afraid of going to hell.
Spirituality is for those who have already been there."
Why do you write about tribalism/clanism in most of
your work?
Because I have yet to meet one single Somali
Who
only belongs
only to Allah
Who doest not
first & foremost
belong to the Somali KKK of
Dir Darod Dayoos Doqon Da-mean Danyer!
Look
Let us make a deal:
I will stop writing about
Somali clanism
The most insidious sort of
racism
When we Somalis stop
wandering all over the world
Like that dog Alexander Pope gave to his Royal Highness
With a sign around our
clannish stiff necks
Proclaiming to all & sundry
I am his Haughty Highness’
Hutu Hawiye hog of a dog
Pray tell me, sir, whose hog of a dog are you?
Are you a dirty dumb dreadful Darod dog of a hog?
How do you think Somali youth will receive your
work?
In the same spirit in which I produce my work
In the spirit of Somalisssimo!
In the spirit of Somalia Hanolatto!
In the spirit of love & joy
In the spirit of open-mindedness
In the spirit of fun & joy
In the spirit of clan-less guilelessness!
in the spirit of telling the truth regardless of who is waiting to
take an offence!
In the spirit of not being
stuck on being stupid like most Somalis
In the spirit of having the courage
to say my say
to say what I believe
to express my opinions
regardless of who is itching to be offended by me!!!
Above all,
in the spirit of having the
courage to betray my clan
Rather than my friends
As my father had done
As my father had taught me
When he quipped, Awada Jáw
Abgal!
Only tonight do I deign to call myself an Abgal!
What book are you reading at the moment and Why?
Right now I am reading a book entitled,
“Tomorrow’s God: Our Greatest Spiritual Challenge”
by one called Neale Donald Walsch (2004)
because I love God
because I love reading
because I hate sleeping alone
so I always sleep with a
book
so I always wake up with a book
you know, at least
a book doesn’t fart
a book does not snore
a book does not have a hell of a halitosis!
a book won't get offended if you drop her for another book!
So go to bed with a book
And come before the book comes
if you can't help it!
The book won't put you out
in the outhouse
in the doghouse
