The Tradition

by Jericho Brown

When we look at myth This way, nobody bothers saying Rape. I mean, don’t you want God To want you?

As a Human Being There is the happiness you have And the happiness you deserve.

No matter how sore the injury Has left you, you sit understanding Yourself as a human being finally Free now that nobody’s got to love you.

I can’t remember The exact date or Grade, but I know when I began ignoring slight alarms That move others to charge or retreat.

Bullet Points

A poem is a gesture toward home.

Duplex

We Do not know the history of our- Selves on this planet because We do not have to know what We believe we own. We believe We own your bodies but have no Use for your tears. We destroy The body that refuses use.

We see A sea so cross it. We see a moon So land there. We love land so Long as we can take it.

I am writing to you from the other side Of my body where I have never been Shot and no one’s ever cut me.

I don’t care That I don’t love my lover. Knowing where to stroke In little light, knowing what Will happen to me and how Soon, these rank higher Than a clear view Of the face I’d otherwise Flay had I some training In combat,

The Long Way

Tell me lies. Tell me sweet little lies Of what you require, intimacy so industrious That when I wake to brush you from my own Teeth I see you in the mirror. I won’t stay Too long. When you look in that mirror, it Will be clean. You’ll be content Seeing only yourself. Was I ever there? Tell me lies.