If I Had Three Wishes

1

I would wish that when a politician steps on the stand

for his swearing in, & by the bible, he swears to be fair,

he slumps. God, this is a way to call a liar home—for that too

is rapture. I have supplicated so much for my revenge but silence

has never been louder. Now In attempt to pray, I know an 

antiquated god & he goes by the name Karma.

2

The time is 1pm & the year is 2022. A Nigerian boy sees a police & smiles

he too smiles back. Lord, this sunset, I want to extend it my whole

lifetime. The story today is the opposite & I wonder why the gun is a meter

that is used to gauge the strength of a black boy's life. When I cut myself 

open instead of bleeding, I smoke. Isn't my body rehearsing for the bullet? 

When you pick a gun, do you ask how many black lives matters to it? Do 

you think you'll ever know the truth? Lord, heal the police.

3

I feel myself spiralling to the ground of the cosmos each time the clock

wears & this resembles an earthquake. You know, like buildings, bodies drop.

This is not to say I fear death. For death is when God reveals his face

& I'm curious. I need this to stop, lord. Put me in a room filled with mirrors

let my story have different synopsis; let the half broken one show my scars

but it should be understood as that time in history when a young boy tried to

live. Let the full ones show me as a mound of miracle & a hillock of 

mystery—meaning the body will live & the body will die.

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Cover photo by Bernadetta Watts