Abdulrazaq Salihu
PRINCIPLE OF DESPAIR
Light here is a
Desacralized bone.
On the news, bodies are drowning into songs.
boys stare onto their foreheads
& pass along.
this is why I know all
their names by heart;
why I hold their bones
happy within me.
tonight, I hear their spirit-radicals
in my palm.
I stretch my hands for grace -
& my name hallows behind me.
I fold my eyes to this despair;
I sing plath to this body, godlights
within;
if tonight you will see a body mangled in
prayer, perhaps you'll
rise with this poem, and this soul,
& in the harmony of the godheads.