BPR 43 | 2016
Winner of the 2016 Collins Prize
I will open
my mouth
and remember
his words
by speaking
them:
Muhammad
was born
from a blood
clot.
Christ
was born
in a stall
darker than
the inside
of a hive.
•
You will enter
paradise
deeper
than a bullet,
deeper
than a dull
blade
entering a body
•
If thinking it
is the same
as pulling
the trigger,
you’ve killed
him a thousand
times—
you’ve scrubbed
more than one
death
from the sleeves
of your uniform.
•
In the end
Allah will appear
to me as gauze,
suture,
with enough
honey to close
my wounds,
with enough honey
to keep my faith
from bleeding out.