...for Thapelo Makutle
All throat now…..already brighter than the stars.
I could hold you in my song. Sotto voce, tremble
against me: a breeze slips in, cools my blood
to garnet…..bed stained with stones, cold and finally
useless………..I Orpheo,…..I lyre. Down river, even damned
with hum, there is room for your cry in my mouth……Sweet,
sweet sotto voce, I sang your moan until…..the machete
swung…..then I kept singing. I eyeless,…..I eternal.
The guards hold blades to the sky and cut the dark open.
Do you hear me raining……….from the wound? My tongue
is a kingdom……You live there.
—Saeed Jones
About the author
Saeed Jones is the author of the chapbook When the Only Light is Fire (2011, Sibling Rivalry Press) and poetry collection Prelude To Bruise (Forthcoming 2014, Coffee House Press.)
His work has appeared in Best Gay Stories 2013, Guernica, Ebony Magazine, The Rumpus, Hayden’s Ferry Review and West Branch among other publications. He received his MFA in Creative Writing at Rutgers University – Newark. He is the recipient of fellowships from Cave Canem and Queer / Arts / Mentors.
He is the editor of BuzzFeed LGBT and lives in New York City.
Related links
Gentle man’s brutal murder turns spotlight on intolerance
Thapelo’s service
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6piy1aBJzQ
Thapelo’s funeral
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGRhrQC3VgI
