great grandfather grew tobacco & raised hogs. used to charge the muslims a premium to keep it on the downlow. the Salesians made that sweet wine. who knows what went on in that school. grandfather lost an eye to a snake. left a blue-colored poppy in its place. dabke at the blood wedding. i saw the canyon before you saw the canyon. had to flush my id to stay alive. crawled on my belly to get home. you’ve seen animals i never knew existed. there’s a lot more love in this country. more forms of expression. at least. give. make. can’t reinvent math. can’t reperfuse bone. 

 

 

 

after Akilah Oliver